Defendant Convicted in $3.4 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme
Houston, TX – A federal jury in Houston yesterday convicted Huey P. Williams Jr., 45, the owner of two Texas medical equipment companies, for his role in a $3.4 million Medicare fraud scheme.
The jury convicted Williams of one count of health care fraud, as charged in a Jan. 15, 2014, indictment. Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date, and will take place before U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon of the Southern District of Texas.
According to the evidence submitted at trial, Williams submitted claims to Medicare through his two companies, Hermann Medical Supply of Katy, Texas, and Hermann Medical Supplies II of Houston, for durable medical equipment, including orthotic devices, which were medically unnecessary or never provided to the patients.
Many of the orthotic devices were components of an “arthritis kit,” and were purported to be for the treatment of arthritis-related conditions. The evidence demonstrated that, from December 2006 through July 2010, Williams submitted approximately $3.4 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, and Medicare paid approximately $1.9 million on those claims.
The case was investigated by the FBI, HHS-OIG, and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Texas Attorney General’s Office, and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Ashlee Caligone McFarlane and Jason Knutson of 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 nearly 2,100 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $6.5 billion.
To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Team (HEAT), go to www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.
Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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