Category Archives: Kickbacks

Florida Man Admits Role in Medicare Kickback Scheme for Unnecessary Prescriptions

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Florida Man Pleads Guilty in Medicare Prescription Kickback Scheme

A Florida resident has admitted to running a telemarketing‑driven scheme that generated medically unnecessary prescriptions and defrauded Medicare of more than $1.3 million. Federal prosecutors announced that Eric Van Vleet, 30, of Delray Beach, pleaded guilty in Newark federal court to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to violate the Anti‑Kickback Statute.

How the Scheme Operated

Between February 2018 and September 2019, Van Vleet operated Hype Med LLC, a company that used aggressive telemarketing tactics to pressure Medicare beneficiaries into accepting high‑priced prescription creams and medications they did not need. These included:

  • Pain creams
  • Scar and eczema creams
  • Migraine medications
  • A combination of drugs marketed as a “foot soak”

Call center employees recorded beneficiary calls and forwarded them—along with pre‑marked prescription pads designed to maximize reimbursement—to telemedicine companies. In return:

  • Hype Med paid kickbacks to telemedicine companies for each beneficiary referral
  • Telemedicine companies paid doctors to rubber‑stamp the prescriptions
  • Van Vleet directed the prescriptions to cooperating pharmacies, including Apogee Bio‑Pharm LLC in Edison, New Jersey

The pharmacies billed Medicare and private insurers, then kicked back a portion of the reimbursement to Hype Med. Van Vleet and his company received at least $343,683.69 in kickback payments from Apogee’s owners.

Wider Criminal Network

The case is part of a broader investigation:

  • Apogee’s principals—William Welwart, Ethan Welwart, and Gary Kaczka—are separately charged with health care fraud and related offenses
  • Elan Yaish, Apogee’s former president, has already pleaded guilty to a kickback conspiracy

In total, Medicare paid over $1.39 million for prescriptions generated through Hype Med’s fraudulent scheme.

Potential Penalties

Van Vleet faces:

  • Up to 10 years in prison for health care fraud conspiracy
  • Up to 5 years in prison for the kickback conspiracy
  • Fines of $250,000 per count, or twice the financial gain or loss, whichever is greater
Federal Agencies Involved

The investigation was led by:

  • FBI – Newark Division
  • HHS Office of Inspector General
  • Department of Defense OIG – Defense Criminal Investigative Service

The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, General Crimes Unit.

Patients Choice Laboratories Pays $9.6M to Settle Medicare Kickback and False Claims Allegations

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Indianapolis, Indiana – Patients Choice Laboratories (PCL), a diagnostic lab headquartered in Indianapolis, has agreed to pay $9.62 million to resolve allegations of violating the False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback-Statute This Indiana Laboratory Fraud Settlement marks a significant legal resolution. Federal prosecutors allege that PCL knowingly billed Medicare for respiratory pathogen panels (RPPs) that were either medically unnecessary or obtained through kickbacks, contributing to the Indiana Laboratory Fraud Settlement. The lab also paid commissions to independent sales representatives and marketing firms based on referral volume, a clear violation of federal law. In November 2020, PCL entered into a Marketing Services … Read More

$6M Settlements in Lab Kickback Scheme: CEO, Doctors, and Marketers Implicated

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Laboratory Kickback Fraud Settlements In a sweeping crackdown on healthcare fraud, former True Health Diagnostics CEO Christopher Grottenthaler has agreed to pay $4.25 million to resolve allegations of Laboratory Kickback Fraud Settlements to physicians for lab test referrals. The Department of Justice also secured $1.8 million in additional settlements from two doctors and seven marketers across Texas, accused of disguising kickbacks as investment distributions through Managed Service Organizations (MSOs). The scheme involved payments masked as consulting fees, handling charges, and copay waivers, targeting federally funded programs including Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE. Despite internal warnings about legal risks, Grottenthaler allegedly continued … Read More

Doctor Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison for Providing Medically Unnecessary Fraudulent Claims Cancer for Patients

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There are great providers who have your best interest, but this doctor lied and convinced his patients they had cancer.  It’s your health, get that second opinion and walk away if you feel uneasy.  This doctor has got 45 years in prison and had to forfeit $17.6 million to think whether it was all worth it when he provided Medically Unnecessary fraudulent claims for cancer.  Read the press release below from U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Michigan. Doctor lied and told his patients they had cancer so he could collect over 17 million from chemo therapy companies. pic.twitter.com/NiReIvuBfg — … Read More

Common Health Care Fraud Types

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CMS gives great details on the many health care fraud types Fraud, waste, and abuse pose major risks for the Medicaid program. “Fraud means an intentional deception or misrepresentation made by a person with the knowledge that the deception could result in some unauthorized benefit to himself or some other person.” “Abuse means provider practices that are inconsistent with sound fiscal, business, or medical practices, and result in an unnecessary cost to the Medicaid program, or in reimbursement for services that are not medically necessary or that fail to meet professionally recognized standards for health care.” [1] Providers who engage … Read More

Illinois Man Charged in Durable Medical Equipment Scheme

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BOSTON – A Geneva, Ill., man has been charged and has agreed to plead guilty in connection with an alleged fraud scheme to defraud Medicare of over $2 million by submitting claims for durable medical equipment (DME) that was medically unnecessary, not wanted by the Medicare beneficiaries and tainted by kickbacks. Kartik Bhatia, 36, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of making false statements. A plea hearing has not yet been scheduled by the Court. According to the charging documents, Bhatia allegedly worked with Raju Sharma, and other co-conspirators to own … Read More

Federal Prison for $10.6M Medicare Fraud – Glendale Hospice Kickbacks

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A Glendale woman has been sentenced to 9 years in federal prison for masterminding a $10.6 million Medicare hospice fraud and kickback fraud scheme. The case reveals how kickbacks for patient referrals continue to undermine Medicare integrity. Also, this lady had prior federal convictions for receiving illegal kickbacks and was on the Excluded list which meant she could not bill the Federal Government for health care. LOS ANGELES – A Glendale woman was sentenced today to 108 months in federal prison for participating in a scheme in which hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal kickbacks were paid and received for patient referrals … Read More

Gilead Sciences will pay $202 million to resolve claims that it paid kickbacks to doctors

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RALEIGH – Attorney General Jeff Jackson announced that Gilead Sciences will pay $202 million to resolve claims that it paid kickbacks to doctors in exchange for promoting its HIV medications, resulting in millions of dollars of false claims submitted to government health care programs, including North Carolina’s Medicaid program. North Carolina’s Medicaid program will receive $760,106 from the settlement in principle, which was reached in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice and 48 other states and came from a qui tam lawsuit. “Doctors are supposed to prescribe the medications that are best for patients – not the medication they get the biggest … Read More

Louisiana Nurse Practitioner Convicted of $12M Medicare Fraud Scheme

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A federal jury convicted a Louisiana nurse practitioner today for her role in an over $12.1 million health care fraud scheme to defraud Medicare by ordering medically unnecessary cancer genetic tests for hundreds of patients she never met or examined. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Scharmaine Lawson Baker, 58, of Richmond, Texas, served as a nurse practitioner and was an enrolled Medicare provider. She held herself out as an expert in Medicare regulations – authoring publications on medical necessity and patient-provider relationships – while actively violating those very standards. “Scharmaine Lawson Baker shamelessly exploited her medical … Read More

Florida Man Sentenced To More Than 17 Years For Scheme To Steal More Than $10.8 Million From Medicare

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Tampa, FL – District Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington has sentenced Lino Mallari Gutierrez, a/k/a “Joe Gutierrez,” (59, Palm City) to 17 years and 6 months in federal prison and ordered him to pay more than $5.6 million in restitution for his role in a scheme to defraud Medicare. Gutierrez and his co-conspirators submitted over $10.8 million in fraudulent claims for durable medical equipment (DME) that Medicare beneficiaries did not want or need and that were procured through the payment of kickbacks. Gutierrez was convicted at trial in April 2025, of eleven health care fraud-related offenses, including conspiracy, health care fraud, and … Read More

Anesthesiology service provider pays almost $1M to settle False Claims Act/Self-Referral liability

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Northwest Anesthesiology and Pain Services reported it paid approximately $1.8 million in bonus payments as a result of the contractor’s (Remedy Physician Solutions) misconduct.  Allegations include violations of the False Claims Act (FCA) and the physician self-referral law (aka Stark Law). HOUSTON – Northwest Anesthesiology and Pain Services (NWAP) has agreed to pay $999,999 to resolve potential violations related to the submission of claims for reimbursement to Medicare for services rendered by its independently contracted pain management practices, announced acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery. NWAP is an anesthesiology service provider in Houston and surrounding areas. The allegations include violations … Read More

Nevada Nurse Practitioner Pleads Guilty To Fraudulent Medicare Wound Care Billing

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Nurse’s GREED exposes patients with unreasonable and unnecessary procedures in exchange for illegal health care kickbacks and bribes.  Mary Huntly faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and will have to deal with the Federal Healthcare Exclusion Statute which will exclude her from participation in all Federal health care programs after her jail term. LAS VEGAS – A Las Vegas nurse practitioner pleaded guilty today to conspiring to fraudulently bill Medicare for amniotic wound allografts for patients that were medically unreasonable and unnecessary in exchange for illegal health care kickbacks. Mary Huntly, 67, was charged with one-count of … Read More

Federal Exclusion Statute –

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Bad news for those in Federal health care Federal health care – Convicted?  You’re Out if Office of Inspector General finds convictions. OIG is legally required to exclude from participation in all Federal health care programs individuals and entities convicted of the following types of criminal offenses: (1) Medicare or Medicaid fraud, as well as any other offenses related to the delivery of items or services under Medicare or Medicaid; (2) patient abuse or neglect; (3) felony convictions for other health-care-related fraud, theft, or other financial misconduct; and (4) felony convictions for unlawful manufacture, distribution, prescription, or dispensing of controlled … Read More

Medicare Fraud, Upcoding & Misleading Records: A Patient’s Wake-Up Call

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For years, I believed my pain management care was honest and thorough. But after reviewing a full copy of my medical records on the patient portal, I uncovered a pattern of deception that points to serious concerns—including Medicare fraud, upcoding, and potentially unethical billing. Every visit I attended was recorded in medical records as having a detailed physical exam, yet no one was actually performed this practice that could be classified as Medicare Fraud. The notes were copied nearly word for word across different providers over a span of four years. Diagnoses listed in these records didn’t match my true … Read More

Physician Self-Referral Law

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–The Physician Self-Referral Law, commonly referred to as the Stark law, prohibits physicians from referring patients to receive “designated health services” payable by Medicare or Medicaid from entities with which the physician or an immediate family member has a financial relationship, unless an exception applies. Financial relationships include both ownership/investment interests and compensation arrangements. For example, if you invest in an imaging center, the Stark law requires the resulting financial relationship to fit within an exception, or you may not refer patients to the facility and the entity may not bill for the referred imaging services. “Designated health services” are: … Read More

Anti-Kickback Statute

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Don’t do it.  Paying for referrals is a crime. The AKS is a criminal law that prohibits the knowing and willful payment of “remuneration” to induce or reward patient referrals or the generation of business involving any item or service payable by the Federal health care programs (e.g., drugs, supplies, or health care services for Medicare or Medicaid patients). Remuneration includes anything of value and can take many forms besides cash, such as free rent, expensive hotel stays and meals, and excessive compensation for medical directorships or consultancies. In some industries, it is acceptable to reward those who refer business to … Read More

Identifying and preventing health care fraud

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An excellent post from CMS… a must read about what health care providers could face with investigations and penalties Instances of health care fraud account for billions of dollars of lost revenue a year throughout the industry. Without the correct safeguards installed to help identify and end fraudulent practices, health care providers could face investigations and penalties that could cost them significant amounts of revenue and threaten the financial health of their business. That being said, creating relevant prevention policies and compliance plans to cover all facets of the laws governing fraud and abuse can often prove challenging for providers. … Read More

National Health Care Fraud Takedown Results in 324 Defendants Charged in Connection with Over $14.6 Billion in Alleged Fraud

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Wow, there are good honest medical professionals out there, but this shows that “GREED” from bad actors affect patients and all taxpayers.  Beware, there are a lot of rotten people out there that that have no conscience and don’t care whom they might harm or cheat. Largest Justice Department Health Care Fraud Takedown in History More than Doubles Prior Record of $6 Billion The Justice Department today announced the results of its 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, which resulted in criminal charges against 324 defendants, including 96 doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and other licensed medical professionals, in 50 federal … Read More

Health care fraud indictment charges man and his company

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Southern District of Georgia continues to lead nationwide effort against fraudulent ‘telehealth’ scams AUGUSTA, GA: A man and his “marketing company” have been named in a five-count federal indictment for a scheme that paid workers to solicit elderly residents for information used to fraudulently bill government medical programs. Patrick Siado, of Texas, and his company, Optimus Prime Marketing, LLC, are charged with one count of Conspiracy and four counts of Health Care Fraud, said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. The Conspiracy charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, while each … Read More

Georgia nurse practitioner convicted of health care fraud

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A Rockdale County nurse practitioner has been convicted in a multimillion‑dollar telemedicine fraud scheme that exploited elderly Medicare beneficiaries. Prosecutors say Sherley L. Beaufils approved thousands of fake orthotic brace orders without examining patients, generating more than $3 million in fraudulent claims before being found guilty on multiple federal charges.

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False Claims Act Settlements and Judgments Exceed $2.68 Billion

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Wow! The False Claims Act exceeded $2.68 billion in settlements and judgments in 2023. Settlements and judgments under the False Claims Act exceeded $2.68 billion in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2023, Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer and Civil Division Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton announced today. The government and whistleblowers were party to 543 settlements and judgments, the highest number of settlements and judgments in a single year. Recoveries since 1986, when Congress substantially strengthened the civil False Claims Act, now total more than $75 billion. “Protecting taxpayer dollars from fraud and abuse is … Read More

Fort Myers Doctor Agrees To Pay More Than $1.7 Million To Resolve Allegations Of Fraud

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Fort Myers, FL — Dr. Jonathan Daitch, an interventional pain management specialist and co‑owner of Advanced Pain Management Specialists, has agreed to pay $1.718 million to resolve federal allegations that he violated the False Claims Act by receiving illegal kickbacks and causing the submission of medically unnecessary urine drug tests. Authorities say the case required this doctor to pay 1.7 million following the allegations. According to the settlement, federal investigators alleged that between 2013 and 2016, Dr. Daitch ordered definitive urine drug testing (UDT) in situations where such testing was not medically reasonable or necessary. These tests were highly profitable … Read More

FBI News and Multimedia

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Florida Man Sentenced to 22 Months’ Imprisonment for Conspiracy to Pay and Receive Healthcare Kickbacks Two West Covina Women Arrested on Indictment Alleging $4.8 Million Hospice Services Scheme to Defraud Medicare Former CEO of Silver State Health Services and Real Estate Investor Indicted for Embezzling Over $2 Million in Federal Grant Money Sovereign Health Group Founder and Ex-CEO Arrested on Indictment Alleging Long-Running, Massive Fraud Against Health Insurers Pharmacist Sentenced to Prison for False Medicaid Claims South Carolina Man Charged in Maryland for Multimillion-Dollar Medicare Fraud and Ponzi Schemes Chula Vista Man Pleads Guilty in $51 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme … Read More

Health Care Fraud – FBI

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Health care fraud can be committed by medical providers, patients, and others who intentionally deceive the health care system to receive illegal benefits or payments. Health care fraud is not a victimless crime. It affects everyone—individuals and businesses alike—and causes tens of billions of dollars in losses each year. It can raise health insurance premiums, expose you to unnecessary medical procedures, and increase taxes. The FBI is the primary agency for investigating health care fraud for both federal and private insurance programs.  See More

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Advanced Pain Management (“APM”) Agree to Pay $1 Million to Resolve Allegations They Violated the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute

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United States Attorney Matthew D. Krueger announced today that Advanced Pain Management (“APM”) has agreed to pay $1 million to settle claims asserting violations of the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks and by performing medically unnecessary laboratory tests. APM is a collection of companies including Advanced Pain Management Holdings, Inc. (“APMH”), its wholly-owned subsidiaries APM Wisconsin MSO and Advanced Pain Management LLC, and Advanced Pain Management S.C. (“APM SC”).  Read More

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