Furman Alexander Ford, Healthcare Fraud, North Carolina 2022

A federal jury in Raleigh, North Carolina convicted Furman Alexander Ford, 52, of Conspiracy to Commit Health Care Fraud, Healthcare Fraud, Wire Fraud, and Aggravated Identity Theft on October 19, 2022. Ford and his co-conspirator, Jimmy Guess, who pled guilty on September 16, 2020 to healthcare fraud, conspired in a scheme to defraud Medicare by submitting false claims to Medicare for mental health services that were never provided to Medicare beneficiaries.

According to witness testimony and evidence presented at trial, Ford and Guess submitted over 5,000 claims to Medicare, totaling approximately $534,438, for mental health services allegedly provided to approximately 145 beneficiaries between October 2018 and February 2020. The defendant executed several fraud schemes to obtain the beneficiaries’ Medicare information, including offering Electronic Health Records conversion and teletherapy counseling to assisted living homes for the elderly and disabled, offering free food in exchange for the Medicare information of low-income elderly parishioners at churches in Bladen County, and cold calling unsuspecting victims offering telehealth services.

The scheme preyed upon the most vulnerable in society – the elderly, the poor, and the disabled. U.S. Attorney Easley stated, “We will continue to work tirelessly to bring such offenders to justice.”

Special Agent in Charge Tamala E. Miles of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General added, “It is disturbing when fraudsters exploit vulnerable Medicare enrollees and defraud federal health care programs for personal gain. Today’s verdict in this case shows that our agency, working with our law enforcement partners, will continue to hold bad actors accountable and protect both Medicare and those served by this program.”

Ford faces up to 52 years in prison when sentenced during Judge Dever’s January 2023 term of court.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys William Gilmore and Ethan Ontjes prosecuted the case.

Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No.5:20-cr-00448-D-1.

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