A Los Angeles woman who pleaded guilty to using fraudulent medical clinics and the stolen identities of physicians to defraud Medicare of more than $6.2 million has been sentenced to 60 months in prison.
Carolyn Ann Vasquez, 47, was also ordered to pay $6.2 million in restitution by U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall of the Central District of California. In addition, Judge Marshall ordered Vasquez to serve three years of supervised release following their prison term.
Vasquez pleaded guilty in March 2011 to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. In her plea agreement, Vasquez admitted that from 2007 to 2008, she conspired with others to use a series of fraudulent Los Angeles-area medical clinics to defraud Medicare.
Vasquez admitted that her co-conspirators used the identities and Medicare provider numbers of physicians who both worked and did not work at the clinics to submit false claims to Medicare for reimbursement for services the physicians did not perform and for power wheelchairs, medical equipment and diagnostic tests that the physicians did not order or prescribe.
According to court documents, physician assistants recruited to work at the clinics by Vasquez and working at her direction and the direction of others, performed services that were medically unnecessary and prescribed and ordered the wheelchairs, medical equipment and diagnostic tests that were medically unnecessary.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Jonathan T. Baum of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. Former Special Trial Attorney Joseph Hudzik participated in the prosecution. The case is being investigated by the FBI.
Since the inception of Strike Force operations in March 2007, Strike Force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,160 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $2.9 billion.
Related Federal Cases
- Tamara Yvonne Motley, Medicare Fraud, California 2023 · Illinois
- Sara Jacqueline King, Investor Fraud, California 2023 · Florida
- Amadou Kane Diallo, Wire Fraud, California 2023 · Illinois
- Mark Roy Anderson, Wire Fraud, California 2023 · Illinois
- Mark R. Maness, Tax Refund Fraud, California 2023 · Washington
Key Facts
- State: Federal
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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