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Lab Marketers, Healthcare Providers, and Physicians Agree to Pay Over $1.1M to Settle Laboratory Kickback Allegations
Two laboratory marketers — Shahram Naghshbandi, of Fort Worth, Texas, and John Bello, of Chesterfield, Virginia; three physicians — Dr. Abbesalom Ghermay, of Plano, Texas; Dr. Daniel Theesfeld, of Longview, Texas; and Dr. James Cook, of Richmond, Virginia; and medical practice owner Troy Belton, of Columbia, South Carolina, and associated entities, have agreed to pay a total of $1,137,914 to resolve False Claims Act allegations they took part in laboratory kickback schemes in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.
“Monetary inducements to healthcare providers undermine the integrity of taxpayer-funded healthcare programs and can improperly influence healthcare providers’ decision-making,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We will continue to hold accountable individuals, as well as companies, who disregard their legal obligations and participate in illegal kickback schemes.”
The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits offering, paying, soliciting or receiving remuneration to induce referrals of items or services covered by Medicare, Medicaid and other federally funded healthcare programs. The Anti-Kickback Statute is intended to ensure that medical providers’ judgments are not compromised by improper financial incentives and are instead based on the best interests of their patients.
The settlements announced today resolve allegations that laboratory marketers and their companies paid or conspired to pay kickbacks to doctors, and that doctors and their companies received kickbacks in return for laboratory referrals. The alleged kickbacks resulted in the submission of false or fraudulent laboratory testing claims to Medicare in violation of the False Claims Act.
Shahram Naghshbandi agreed to pay $400,000 to resolve allegations that he entered into illegal schemes to pay kickbacks to doctors for laboratory referrals. From August 2018 through July 2022, in return for Naghshbandi and his marketing company arranging for and/or recommending that several healthcare providers order laboratory testing from three clinical laboratories in Kenilworth, New Jersey; Dallas, Texas; and Orlando, Florida, these laboratories allegedly paid commissions to Naghshbandi’s marketing company based on reimbursements from the health care providers’ laboratory testing referrals. To induce these healthcare providers to order testing, Naghshbandi allegedly paid them thousands of dollars in kickbacks disguised as investment distributions from purported management service organizations (MSOs). In addition to the monetary settlement, Naghshbandi has been excluded from federal healthcare programs for 10 years.
John Bello and his marketing company, RiteRx4U LLC, agreed to pay $140,000 to resolve allegations that, from February 1, 2019, through February 28, 2021, they paid Dr. James Cook, of Richmond, Virginia, thousands of dollars in kickbacks to induce Dr. Cook to order testing from two clinical laboratories in Kenilworth, New Jersey, and Chester, Virginia. Bello and RiteRx4U allegedly sought to disguise these payments as purported investment returns when they were in fact based on the volume and value of Dr. Cook’s referrals to these laboratories.
The Anti-Kickback Statute ascribes liability to parties on both sides of an impermissible kickback arrangement.
Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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