Former NFL star Clinton Portis pleads guilty to healthcare fraud and faces up to 10 years in prison

**pwaldo** · 09-07-2021, 09:02 PM

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...are-fraud.html

Former Pro Bowl running back Clinton Portis has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and could face up to 10 years in prison.

The plea comes a week after a hung jury in Portis' federal trial on the fraud charges.

As part of the plea, signed Friday and obtained by DailyMail.com, he faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of not more than $250,000. He also will make restitution of $99,264 to the Gene Upshaw NFL Players Health Reimbursement Account Plan.

Portis will be sentenced in January of 2022, according to court records.

Pro Football Talk was the first to report the plea deal.

The Justice Department filed charges in December 2019 accusing Portis and nine other retired players of filing $3.9 million in false claims. The health plan paid out more than $3.4 million on those claims from June 2017 to December 2018, according to court records.

The other players accused of healthcare fraud in the case include former New Orleans Saints Joe Horn, who pleaded guilty in 2019 and is scheduled to be sentenced in October, as well as Robert McCune, John Eubanks, Tamarick Vanover, Ceandris (C.C.) Brown, James Butler, Fredrick Bennett and Etric Pruitt.

**jplcom** · 09-07-2021, 11:03 PM

Man that is a super bummer to hear about. I always liked him as a running back. Portis put a ton of wear and tear on his body during his 20s in the NFL. Racked up around 2,500 touches not including the grind of practices and college. I can't imagine the the Health Reimbursement Account Plan will look too kindly on any requests he puts in down the road when he may need it most.