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$1.7 Million Ambulance Scam Hits Houston
Okechukwu Ofoegbu, the administrator of a Houston-based ambulance company, has pleaded guilty to submitting $1,734,550 in fraudulent claims to Medicare, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas; Special Agent-In-Charge Stephen L. Morris of the FBI’s Houston Field Office; Special Agent-in-Charge Mike Fields of the Dallas Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG); and the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU).
Ofoegbu, 31, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Texas to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. The scheme involved transporting patients that did not meet the requirements for ambulance transport under Medicare regulations, falsifying ambulance run sheets, and using the falsified run sheets to file claims with Medicare, according to the plea agreement.
Ofoegbu’s company, CardioMax EMS, primarily transported patients to community mental health centers. He admitted in his plea agreement that he conspired with others to submit claims to Medicare for ambulance services that he knew were miscoded, not medically necessary, and in some cases, not provided.
As part of the plea agreement, Ofoegbu has agreed to pay $553,002 in restitution to the United States. At sentencing, scheduled for January 24, 2013, Ofoegbu faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Ofoegbu was originally indicted as part of a nationwide takedown on May 2, 2012, that resulted in charges against 107 individuals, including doctors, nurses, and other licensed medical professionals, for their alleged participation in Medicare fraud schemes involving approximately $452 million in false billing.
The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Laura M.K. Cordova, Special Trial Attorney James S. Seaman, Special Trial Attorney Ronald Cummings, and Deputy Chief Sam S. Sheldon of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The case was investigated by HHS-OIG, FBI, and the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas and the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,480 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $4.8 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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