CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Joan Rubinger built a prominent sports medicine practice treating some of the biggest names in professional sports. The nurse practitioner's website touts a client list that includes 169 NFL Pro Bowl selections, 29 NBA and WNBA champions and 15 Olympic medalists. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
But behind the scenes, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration alleged in court filings, Rubinger secretly doled out illegal prescriptions for hundreds of thousands of highly addictive painkillers to clients in more than 20 states. Authorities allege she issued controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose and instructed clients on how to avoid scrutiny from federal investigators.
The DEA last month revoked the nurse practitioner's authority to prescribe controlled substances, citing what an administrative law judge found to be egregious conduct. Rubinger also agreed in March to pay $1.4 million to settle a Justice Department civil complaint in which she didn't admit any wrongdoing.
Rubinger has not been criminally charged. Her spokesperson, Erick Mullen, stressed that the Justice Department pursued a civil case and suggested she had been threatened and pressured by dangerous clients.
"Joan's case was not a criminal matter but a civil action," Mullen wrote in an email. "No raids with blue windbreakers carrying agency initials, and no loss of liberty at stake."
The case is linked to a sprawling drug case opened due to Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis's opioid addiction. Davis has previously admitted to being addicted to opioids. Federal prosecutors declined to pursue the case.