Conviction upheld for ex-Gator, Jag in health care fraud scheme

2013 Pinellas County Sheriff's Office booking photo of Monty Ray Grow

A federal appeals court Wednesday upheld the conviction of former University of Florida and Jacksonville Jaguars football player Monty Grow in a health-care fraud scheme -- but found that part of his sentence was excessive.

A jury in 2018 found Grow guilty of conspiracy to commit health-care fraud and wire fraud and other charges, including receiving kickbacks and money laundering, according to Wednesday’s ruling by a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

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The charges related to a business that Grow operated that marketed a pain cream, a scar cream and a type of metabolic vitamin.

The business recruited patients and used telemedicine companies to prescribe the products. The business marketed to people who were insured by Tricare, the government program for people in the military and their families.

Wednesday’s ruling said, in part, that Tricare paid “exorbitant rates” for the products and that some patients were paid commissions for ordering the creams and vitamins.

In the appeal, Grow contended that his conviction on the charges should be overturned for a series of reasons, but the panel rejected his arguments.

“We conclude that there was sufficient evidence of fraud,” said the 44-page ruling by Judges Robert Luck, Ed Carnes and Stanley Marcus. “Recruits were prescribed, and Tricare was billed for, pain creams, scar creams, and vitamins that were not medically necessary. … It is no answer to say, as Grow does, that the creams and vitamins were ‘provided pursuant to valid prescriptions issued by doctors who lawfully consulted with the patients telephonically.’ A doctor’s prescription is not a get-out-of-jail-free card.”

The court, however, found that a 20-year prison sentence on a charge of conspiracy to commit health-care fraud and wire fraud exceeded a legal limit. That is because conspiracy to commit health-care fraud carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, and it was unclear whether the jury found Grow guilty of conspiracy to commit health-care fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud or both.

Grow also received an additional 22-month sentence on another charge in the case, according to the ruling.