April 15, 2015

Rahmat Begum, owner of Detroit-area home health care agency Empirical Home Health Care Inc. pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering charges in connection with her role in a $2.6 million home health care scheme.  According to her guilty plea, Begum conspired to submit falsified claims to Medicare based upon referrals obtained through illegal kickbacks to patient recruiters and physicians.  DOJ

April 9, 2015

Virginia-based cardiovascular testing disease laboratory Health Diagnostics Laboratory Inc. agreed to pay $47 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks to physicians in exchange for patient referrals and billing federal health care programs for medically unnecessary testing.  A second cardio testing lab, California-based Singulex Inc., agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle similar charges.  The allegations first arose in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Dr....

March 23, 2015

Former principal vice president of Bechtel Corporation Asem Elgawhary was sentenced to 42 months in prison for accepting $5.2 million in kickbacks to manipulate the competitive bidding process for state-run power contracts in Egypt.  One of the power companies who supplied the bribes, Alstom S.A., pleaded guilty in December to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.  DOJ

March 20, 2015

A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted Hakop Gambaryan, owner of Colonial Medical Supply, of four counts of health care fraud in connection with a $3.3 million Medicare fraud scheme.  According to evidence presented at trial, Gambaryan paid cash kickbacks to medical clinics for fraudulent prescriptions for durable medical equipment, such as expensive power wheelchairs, which the patients did not need, and then used these fraudulent prescriptions to bill Medicare. ...

March 20, 2015

A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted Sylvia Walter-Eze, former owner ofEzcor Medical Supply, in connection with a $3.5 million Medicare and Medi-Cal fraud scheme.  The evidence at trial demonstrated that Walter-Eze paid illegal kickbacks to patient recruiters in exchange for patient referrals, and to physicians for fraudulent prescriptions for power wheelchairs and other medically unnecessary equipment.  DOJ

March 16, 2015

Los Angeles pharmacist Rouzbeh Javaherian pleaded guilty to defrauding the Medicare Part D program through his pharmacy called Emoonah Inc. (d/b/a Westaid Pharmacy and Medical Supply).  Specifically, he paid illegal cash kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries to induce them to submit their prescriptions to Westaid and he submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare Part D plan sponsors for prescriptions he did not actually fill.  DOJ

March 13, 2015

Mohammed Sadiq, the owner of two Detroit home health care companies, pleaded guilty to his role in a scheme to fraudulently bill Medicare for $12.6 million in home health services that were not provided or were obtained through illegal kickbacks.  DOJ

March 2, 2015

Patient safety consultant Dr. Charles Denham and his consulting company Health Care Concepts Inc. and his research organization Texas Medical Institute of Technology agreed to pay $1 million to settle allegations they violated the False Claims Act by soliciting and accepting kickbacks.  According to the government, Denham received monthly payments from CareFusion Corporation while serving as the co-chair of the Safe Practices Committee of the National Quality Forum which reviews,...

February 25, 2015

A federal jury in Detroit convicted Michigan patient recruiter Reginald Smith and Michigan physical therapist Rajan Patel for their roles in a $1.6M Medicare fraud scheme.  According to the evidence, Smith worked as a patient recruiter for Angle’s Touch Home Health Care LLC where he solicited patients for foot care services at adult foster care homes and then referred them to Angle’s Touch for medically unnecessary home health care services...

February 23, 2015

Two South Florida medical doctors and their wives, Dr. Alan and Lynn Buhler and Dr. Craig and Cynthia Prokos agreed to pay $1M and $90,000, respectively, to settle allegations they violated the False Claims Act when their wives accepted sham marketer salaries in exchange for their husbands’ referrals to a home health care company called A Plus Home Health Care Inc.  The US previously settled with A Plus and its...