Ceo Of Health Care Software Company Sentenced For $1b Fraud Conspiracy

An Arizona man was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $452 million in restitution for conspiring to defraud Medicare and other federal health care benefit programs of more than $1 billion by operating a platform that generated false doctors’ orders used to support fraudulent claims for various medical items.

“This just sentence is the result of one of the largest telemarketing Medicare fraud cases ever tried to verdict,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Telemedicine scammers who use junk mailers, spam calls and the internet to target senior citizens steal taxpayer money and harm vulnerable populations. The Criminal Division will continue dedicating substantial resources to the fight against telemedicine and medical equipment frauds that drain our health care benefit programs.”

“Together with our partners, the FBI will aggressively pursue those who defraud taxpayer funded health care programs,” said Acting Assistant Director Rebecca Day of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “Programs like Medicare are intended to help the most vulnerable among us, and fraud schemes like the one orchestrated by the defendant can jeopardize the delivery of critical care to those who need it the most.”

“This sentence sends a clear message: those who exploit telemedicine to prey on seniors and steal from taxpayer-funded health care programs will be held accountable,” said Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “This scheme was a massive betrayal of trust, built on deception and greed. Our investigators, working with law enforcement partners, dismantled this billion-dollar fraud operation that targeted vulnerable patients and undermined the integrity of Medicare. We will not relent in our mission to protect the public and safeguard Medicare and other federal health care programs from fraud, waste, and abuse.”

“This sentencing underscores the Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General’s (VA OIG) commitment to vigorously investigate those who would seek to defraud VA healthcare programs,” said Special Agent in Charge David Spilker with the VA OIG Southeast Field Office. “The VA OIG thanks the Department of Justice and our law enforcement partners for their efforts in this investigation.”

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Source: HackerNews