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A Mississippi man has been charged by the Justice Department with multiple crimes related to $70 million in Medicare fraud.
Last week, an indictment was unsealed in Tampa against Joel Rufus French, 46, who appeared when summoned in Oxford, Mississippi. The FBI Tampa Field Office and HHS-OIG are investigating the case.
Man is charged with fraud worth millions of dollars
French is alleged to have used bribes to obtain doctor's orders to purchase unnecessary quantities of durable medical equipment (DME). The defendant had also developed a network of co-conspirators who received bribes and kickbacks as part of an elaborate scheme involving orthopedic braces.
Initial court documents indicated that French did not disclose to Medicare his status or role in running several DME companies. French would then use the fraudulently obtained doctor's orders to allegedly bill Medicare for $70 million in reimbursement.
The Justice Department press release states that the charges against French include “conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive illegal health care bribes, conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.”
The Justice Department's Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program consists of “nine strike forces operating in 27 federal districts that have indicted more than 5,400 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $27 billion.”
If French is convicted of these crimes, he faces maximum sentences of twenty and five years for each of the charges against him, respectively.
This would be one of three medical fraud cases registered by the Justice Department this week. A New Jersey doctor was convicted of illegally distributing oxycodone and two other doctors were convicted for their involvement in a fraudulent drug testing program.
Image: Ideogram.
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