A Houston-area physician and two delivery drivers have been convicted in a multi-million dollar Medicare fraud scheme, announced the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS).
Dr. Howard Grant, Clinton Lee, and Obisike Nwankwo were convicted late Wednesday by a federal jury in the Southern District of Texas. Grant was convicted of two counts of health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Lee and Nwankwo were each convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
Each substantive health care fraud charge and the conspiracy charge carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Lee and Grant are scheduled to be sentenced on August 24, 2010, and Nwankwo is scheduled to be sentenced on August 25, 2010.
The evidence at trial established that Onward Medical Supply, a Houston-area durable medical equipment (DME) company, billed Medicare for fraudulent DME, including power wheelchairs and orthotic devices, beginning in 2003 and continuing until late 2009.
According to evidence presented at trial, Vinitski worked with Medicare biller and co-defendant John Nasky Okonkwo and others in late 2008 and early 2009 to submit fraudulent claims to Medicare identifying Dr. Howard Grant as the prescribing physician for the DME. The claims were submitted in several groups in November 2008.
Following the verdict, U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Atlas ordered Grant to surrender his medical license and his Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) number and to stop all billing to Medicare and Medicaid.
The convictions are announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno of the Southern District of Texas; Richard C. Powers, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Houston office; Special Agent-in-Charge Mike Fields of the Dallas Regional Office of HHS Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigations; and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on behalf of the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU).
The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jennifer L. Saulino, O. Benton Curtis III, and Nicola J. Mrazek of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and was investigated by the FBI, HHS-OIG, and MFCU.
The case was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Texas.
Related Federal Cases
- Cathy Harvill and William Harvill, Conspiracy to Commit Health Care Fraud, Texas 2014 · Kansas
- Jason Jarin, Medicaid Fraud and Illicit Transition Procedures, Texas 2023 · Texas
- Joshua Hippler, Wrongful Disclosure of Individually Identifiable Health Information, Texas 2014 · Texas
- Jose Antonio Caballero, Mortgage Fraud Scheme, Texas 2011 · Texas
- Shannon Tecoko Mays, Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, Texas 2012 · Kansas
Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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