Michael David Pitts, Wire Fraud, Louisiana 2023

BATON ROUGE, LA – Michael David Pitts, 41, was sentenced to 48 months in the Bureau of Prisons for his wire fraud conviction in connection with a scheme to defraud Amedisys, Incorporated, a home health and hospice care company formerly headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Pitts pled guilty to stealing $7,641,528 from Amedisys, which annually furnishes home health services to approximately 380,000 patients in 36 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Judge John deGravelles ordered Pitts to pay total restitution of $7,861,679 to Amedisys, Inc., its insurer (Ace Westchester Chubb) and Amedisys Political Action Committee. Pitts was also ordered to forfeit assets of $7,641,528.

According to the Bill of Information to which Pitts pled guilty, he was the Vice President of Tax for Amedisys for the period January 2005 through July 2014. In this role, Pitts was responsible for all corporate tax matters, including the preparation of state and federal tax returns and the payment of state income taxes in the various states where Amedisys operated its business.

Pitts engaged in a scheme to defraud Amedisys from October 2006 through May 2014 through an elaborate scheme involving shell entities and fictitious film tax credits. He created a counterfeit company named “Stonehenge Entertainment” for the purpose of selling false and fictitious “Tax Credit Transfer Agreements” to Amedisys.

U.S. Attorney Walt Green stated: “Today Mr. Pitts’ insatiable greed landed him in jail for the next four years. He violated the trust that Amedisys placed in him for over nine years. During this extended period, he stole over $7.5 million dollars from a company who was duped by this unscrupulous individual.”

Pitts will serve 48 months in the Bureau of Prisons, followed by 3 years supervised release. The sentencing occurred on a date not specified in the provided text, however the crime date was between October 2006 and May 2014. Pitts was ordered to pay total restitution of $7,861,679 and forfeit assets of $7,641,528.

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