Physicians, marketers and medical businesses across nine U.S. federal districts are among those facing charges.
charges against 21 defendants for their alleged involvement in COVID-19 fraud schemes that resulted in over $149 million in losses. Physicians, marketers and medical businesses across nine U.S. federal districts are among those facing charges in what officials said are"some of the largest and most wide-ranging pandemic frauds detected to date."
Several cases of those announced Wednesday involve defendants accused of offering COVID-19 testing to prompt patients to provide personal information and a saliva or blood sample, the Department of Justice said. Defendants then allegedly used the samples and information to submit false and fraudulent claims to federal health insurance for tests or services that were unrelated, medically unnecessary and significantly more expensive.
In a scheme of this kind, two owners of a California clinical laboratory are accused of fraudulently billing more than $214 million laboratory tests as well as over $125 million in fraudulent COVID-19 claims and respiratory pathogen tests, the DOJ said. In other cases, owners of medical clinics in Maryland and New York allegedly obtained confidential information from patients who sought COVID-19 tests at drive-thru testing sites and submitted fraudulent claims for long office visits that never happened, investigators said. The proceeds then were allegedly laundered through U.S. shell corporations, transferred to foreign countries and used to buy luxury items and real estate.
Justice Department Announces Nationwide Coordinated Law Enforcement Action to Combat Health Care-Related COVID-19 Fraud
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