Jury convicts former NFL player Keith J Gray in $328 million Medicare fraud scheme involving kickbacks

Former UConn football standout and Texas laboratory owner Keith J. Gray was convicted Thursday for his role in a wide-ranging genetic testing fraud scheme, the Justice Department announced Friday.

According to investigators, the cardiovascular testing scheme generated up to $328 million in fraudulent claims. Gray, who never appeared in a regular season NFL game, owns Axis Professional Labs and Kingdom Health Laboratory.

He was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive health care kickbacks, five counts of violating the anti-kickback statute. Gray also faces three counts of money laundering, a news release from the DOJ confirmed.

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Prosecutors said Gray knowingly billed Medicare for "medically unnecessary genetic tests designed to evaluate the risk of various cardiovascular diseases and conditions." According to officials, Gray provided kickbacks in return for referrals of DNA samples and executed test orders authorizing the procedures.

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Marketers would seek out Medicare beneficiaries and "doctor chase" to uncover the identity of the beneficiaries' primary care physicians. Prosecutors said that once an individual’s identity was obtained, a doctor was believed to have been pressured into approving the tests.

Fabricated documents and invoices were used to try and conceal payments that listed charges for "marketing" hours. Another aspect of the operation involved Gray allegedly mischaracterizing the payments as "software" expenses or labeling them as non-existent loans.

During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence including text messages between Gray and a co-conspirator. The messages appeared to be enthusiastic exchanges between the two over the anticipation of the money they were gaining from Medicare.

"$ent, you should have it any minute if you don’t already. Get it?" Gray then replied by saying, "Sorry I was filling my bathtub with ones. Yes lol."

Axis and Kingdom billed Medicare an estimated $328 million for false claims, while Medicare paid claims totaling approximately $54 million. A sentencing date for Gray was not immediately announced. He faces up to 10 years in prison for each count.

Gray was a key contributor to the Huskies, starting every game in 2007. He signed with the Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent after college.

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