Former NFL player Marcus Buckley has been accused of participating in a $1.5 million scheme to defraud a Sacramento business that managed workers’ compensation claims. Buckley has been sentenced to 24 months in federal prison.
Buckley, 46, of Weatherford, Texas, was sentenced Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento. Judge Troy L. Nunley also ordered Buckley to pay more than $1.58 million in restitution, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office news release.
From 1993 to 2000 Buckley played for the New York Giants. The Giants had a workers’ compensation insurance policy which was written through the Pennsylvania Manufacturer’s Association Insurance Group, also known as “PMA”.
In 2006, Buckley filed a workers’ compensation claim against the Giants for “cumulative stress injuries” that were reportedly sustained while playing football, part of that time in California. In November 2010, Buckley, the Giants and PMA settled Buckley’s claim for $300,000 as part of a “compromise and release” agreement, according to the news release.
Following the settlement Buckley prepared and filed numerous claims for additional reimbursement under his settled claim. Buckley created false invoices and statements from medical providers for medical service purportedly provided alongside false credit collection notices from collection agencies purportedly seeking payment from Buckley from various medical providers for past-due medical bills, the news release said.
Buckley sent the false invoices, statements and credit collection letters to his co-defendant, Kimberly Jones, who was a claims adjuster with Gallagher Bassett Services at its Sacramento office. The firm was a third-party administrator that managed workers’ compensation claims in California on behalf of PMA.
Jones was aware that Buckley was not entitled to additional reimbursement under his disability claim, and that the documentation and requests he submitted were false, the news release said. Jones nevertheless caused Gallagher Bassett to issue checks payable to Buckley, and he ultimately received more than $1.58 million.
Jones has also been scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 8 by Judge Nunley.
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