South Carolina Resident Found Liable for $51 Million in Health Care Fraud

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team

The United States Attorney’s Office in South Carolina announced that a federal jury returned a unanimous verdict against Floyd Calhoun “Cal” Dent and two co-conspirators, Robert Bradford Johnson and LaTonya Mallory, for defrauding Medicare and Tricare. The government alleged that Mr. Dent and his co-conspirators paid kickbacks to physicians so they would order medically unnecessary blood tests in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act.

Over the course of a two week trial, federal prosecutors presented evidence that the defendants arranged for “process and handling fees” of $17 to be paid to physicians for each referral to Health Diagnostics Laboratory (“HDL”) and Singulex, Inc. As a result of those kickbacks, physicians referred patients’ blood samples to the labs for unnecessary tests. HDL and Singulex then submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare and Tricare for the medically unnecessary tests.

“This jury verdict sends a strong message of accountability to those who would seek to take advantage of federal health care programs,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Lance Crick. “The District of South Carolina will continue to battle against Medicare and Tricare fraud.”

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, FCA Federal, Lack of Medical Necessity,