Lexington Herald-Leader from Lexington, Kentucky • A3

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 8 2021 3A With three recent pleas, all 15 former National Football League players charged with health care fraud in Kentucky have admitted guilt. Clinton Portis and Ta- marick Vanover pleaded guilty Sept. 3 to one con- spiracy charge each, ad- mitting they took part in a scheme to get reimburse- ments for expensive med- ical equipment they actually buy or receive. Robert McCune pleaded guilty on Aug. 24 to con- spiracy and other charges.

Twelve other former play- ers had pleaded guilty earlier. The U.S. Department of Justice announced the investigation of former NFL players in December 2019. The initial release involved 12 players, but others were charged later. Officials said players had submitted nearly $4 million in fraudulent claims between June 2017 and December 2018 seek- ing reimbursement from a fund set up to help former players pay out-of-pocket medical costs.

Former players created fake invoices and other documents to support the claims, with some paying kickbacks to leaders in the scheme to pursue claims for them, according to court records. None of the players charged lived in Kentucky. The charges were handled here because because Cigna, the company that handled claims for the NFL plan, processed them through a center in Lex- ington. That allowed prose- cutors to consolidate the cases in one place instead of filing cases around the country. One document in the case said that Cigna iden- tified more than 70 former NFL players who sub- mitted fraudulent claims, but that some were al- lowed to repay the money without being charged.

Portis, a Pro Bowl run- ning back who played for Denver and Washington, admitted working with McCune to submit two fake claims in 2018, one of $44,732 for an oxygen chamber and the other for $54,532 for a cryosauna. Portis the claims McCune submitted on his behalf were false and fraudulent or was aware of a high probability that the claims McCune submitted on his behalf were false and fraudulent and delib- erately ignored that his plea agreement said. Vanover, a receiver who played for the Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers, admitted he recruited other players into the scheme and gath- ered personal information from them to give to Don- ald Caldwell to use in fraudulent claims. His plea agreement covered three claims total- ing $159,510. Portis, 40, of Fort Mill, S.C., and Vanover, 47, of Tallahassee, went to trial on the charges against them but that ended in a mistrial on Sept.

1. Jurors had voted to convict Vanover on con- spiracy, health fraud and wire fraud charges but could not agree on a ver- dict on others, and dead- locked on all the charges against Portis, according to the court record. After U.S. District Judge Karen K. Caldwell sched- uled another trial, Portis and Vanover pleaded guilty They face a maximum of 10 years in prison, though federal sentencing guidelines will likely call for lesser sentences.

Court records indicate that McCune, a linebacker who played at the Uni- versity of Louisville before stints in the NFL at Wash- ington, Miami and Balti- more, was a leader in the scheme, submitting false claims and then imperson- ating other players in calls to the insurance company to check the status of payments. McCune, 40, pleaded guilty to more than 20 counts, including conspir- acy, health care fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to a news release from the Department of Justice. The most serious charg- es against him carry maxi- mum sentences of 20 years in prison. The other players con- victed in the case are John Eubanks, Ceandris Brown, James Butler, Fredrick Bennett, Etric Pruitt, Ant- wan Odom, Anthony Montgomery, Darrell Reid, Correll Buckhalter, Carlos Rogers, Joe Horn and Donald Caldwell. Only Brown and Rogers have been sentenced.

Caldwell sentenced Brown to one year and one day in prison and ordered him to pay $84,777 in restitution, and sentenced Rogers to 180 days on home detention, 400 hours of community service and a $10,000 fine. Donald Caldwell, who played for the San Diego Chargers and New Eng- land Patriots, was shot and killed in an apparent robbery attempt before he was sentenced. Most of the other play- ers are scheduled to be sentenced next month, though McCune is to be sentenced in November and Portis and Vanover in January. Bill Estep: 606-521-9607, Former NFL players plead guilty in Kentucky fraud case BY BILL ESTEP JOE LEDFORD Former Kansas City Chiefs punt returner Tamarick Vanover is one of 15 former NFL players who pleaded guilty in federal court in Kentucky in a health care fraud scheme. ROB CARR AP Former National Football League player Clinton Portis is one of 15 former NFL players who pleaded guilty in federal court in Kentucky in a health care fraud scheme.

TYLER, TEXAS Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed an elections overhaul into law Tuesday that adds more voting restrictions in the booming state, after Dem- ocrats spent months pro- testing what they say are efforts to weaken minority turnout and preserve the eroding dominance. Abbott signed the sweep- ing changes during a cere- mony in the East Texas city of Tyler, where the sur- rounding county went for former President Donald Trump by a more than 2-to-1 margin last year. But it was far closer in Texas overall, with Trump carry- ing the state by 5 points, the thinnest margin of victory by a GOP presi- dential nominee here in decades. The bill signing again underlined the hard right turn Texas Republicans made this year, including a new state law that took effect last week banning most abortions.

Abbott said he chose Tyler be- cause it was home to the author, Republican Sen. Bryan Hughes, who also carried the new abor- tion restrictions. Already, the rewrite of voting laws are the target of at least three federal lawsuits including another filed Tuesday and all contend the changes will have a dis- proportionate impact on minorities. Abbott and other Republicans say it expands access by increas- ing the minimum number of early voting hours, but the law also puts new re- strictions on late-night voting. feel extremely confi- dent that when this law makes it through the litiga- tion phase, it will be Abbott said.

cause exactly what said, it does make it easier for people to be able to go vote. No one who is eligible to vote will be denied the opportunity to Texas is among at least 18 states that have enacted new voting restrictions since the 2020 election, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. The laws are part of a national GOP campaign, including in Florida, Geor- gia and Arizona, to tighten voting laws in the name of security, partly driven by false claims that the election was stolen. Opponents did not wait for signature to begin filing lawsuits against the new Texas law known as Senate Bill 1. The American Civil Liberties Union, minority rights groups and disability ad- vocates are part of a broad coalition that filed separate lawsuits last week in feder- al court in Texas, accusing Republican lawmakers of violating the federal Voting Rights Act and intentional- ly discriminating against minorities.

Lawsuits target freshly signed voting law in Texas BY PAUL J. WEBER AND LM OTERO Associated Press kentucky.com/digitalaccess.