Former NFL running back Clinton Portis was sentenced to prison time Thursday for his role in defrauding a benefit program for former NFL players.
Portis was sentenced to six months in prison and six months of home confinement stemming from the insurance fraud charges. The former running back was convicted of obtaining nearly $100,000 by filing false claims for medical equipment that was not provided. The target was the NFL’s Gene Upshaw NFL Player Health Reimbursement Account Plan, which is designed to aid retired players in paying for medical expenses. Portis and a number of other players were accused of filing false claims worth about $2.9 million in total, and 15 ex-players have pled guilty as part of the scheme.
Portis originally faced up to 10 years in prison for the charges. The Department of Justice had recommended a 10-to-16 month sentence after he pled guilty.
The 40-year-old Portis played for Denver and Washington over the course of nine NFL seasons, and was twice named to the Pro Bowl. As recently as August, he was facing other unrelated legal issues as well.
The report says Portis has not made any child support payments to the mother of a child born in March, 2015. The monthly support amount is $1,937. An Aug. 6 hearing stated that Portis owed $147,962.49 plus interest in child support payments.
Portis’ arrest warrant was issued on Aug. 13 after he did not show up to the Aug. 6 hearing.
Now 39, Portis was a second-round pick by Denver in 2002. He played two seasons for the Broncos before being traded to Washington. Portis was a two-time Pro Bowler. He made over $43 million during his playing career but filed for bankruptcy in 2015, citing mismanagement by his financial advisors.
Retired former Pro Bowl running back Clinton Portis is revealing one heck of a story about his time with the Washington Redskins.
Portis conducted a recent NBC Washington interview together with ex-Redskins teammate Santana Moss in the wake of the ten-year anniversary of Sean Taylor’s death. In the interview, Portis revealed that the trio would take shots of Hennessy before games.
“Prior to the game, on our way, we would take a little shot,” said Portis, per Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post. “Not like going out and getting sloppy wasted; just adrenaline. You know, you take a shot and you were done with it.
“Me, Santana and Sean, we did this for a year and a half before anybody knew,” he continued. “We never told anybody. It was just, hey, here’s a little sip, bam, that was it.”
It’s worth noting that Portis, Moss, and Taylor all attended college at the University of Miami as well.
Portis also said the practice was never a problem until Jim Zorn took over as Redskins coach in 2008, a few months after Taylor’s passing, and questioned the tradition. Moss added that Zorn lost the locker room from that point on.
That’s definitely a pretty wild ritual that the trio used to engage in, but it’s probably still nothing compared to what this guy used to do.
Emotional retirements can do something strange to a man, like convince him that Dan Snyder is actually a good owner. That’s what happened with Clinton Portis on Thursday.
The two-time Pro Bowler announced his retirement, and in the process he went somewhere very few people, if any, have gone before:
“Best owner in sports, great mentor and friend much respect for MR SNYDER,” Portis wrote on Twitter as a caption for the picture you see above.
It was strange to see someone speak about Dan Snyder in those terms. The Redskins owner is viewed as one of the more petty and vindictive owners in sports, not to mention one who frequently meddles with his team leading to poor results. You can’t speak ill of him without fear of a lawsuit, and he’ll probably attempt to shut down LBS because of the contents of this post. Really, all you need to know about him as a person you can read in this anecdote.
Like I said, emotional retirements must do something weird to a man.
Portis by the way played 84 games for the Redskins over seven seasons, scoring 49 touchdowns and 8,164 combined yards for the team. The Skins and Broncos were probably equally satisfied with the results of their Portis for Champ Bailey blockbuster trade made in 2004.
