James Roland Fuquay, Medicare Fraud, California 2009
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - In a shocking case of Medicare fraud, James Roland Fuquay, a patient recruiter known as the “Red, White & Blue Man,” was sentenced to 21 months in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud Medicare.
Fuquay, 49, was also ordered to pay $556,815 in restitution by U.S. District Judge John F. Walter of the Central District of California. In addition, Fuquay was ordered to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.
According to court documents, Fuquay was a patient recruiter who sold the personal information of Medicare beneficiaries from San Diego and Los Angeles to fraudulent Los Angeles medical clinics and durable medical equipment (DME) companies.
Fuquay pleaded guilty on May 11, 2009, to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. He recruited Medicare beneficiaries from homeless shelters in San Diego and Los Angeles using the sales pitch, “Red, white, and blue. Let’s make it do what it do.”
Fuquay then paid the beneficiaries to go with him to fraudulent medical clinics and DME supply companies to receive medical services, power wheelchairs, hospital beds and other medical equipment the beneficiaries did not want, need or receive.
Fuquay’s network of Medicare beneficiaries and fraudulent DME supply companies was large enough for him to make approximately $220,000 in illegal recruiter fees.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney April Christine of the Central District of California with the assistance of Trial Attorney Jonathan T. Baum of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG.
The case 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 Central District of California.
Since their inception in March 2007, Strike Force operations in seven districts have obtained indictments of more than 825 individuals who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $2 billion.
To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.
Key Facts
- State: Federal
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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