Doctor Busted For Alleged COVID-19 Fraud Charges Worth Over $200 Million

The COVID-19 plandemic was the greatest fraud perpetuated on humanity and many scammers took advantage of innocent people.

Politicians, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, etc. helped initiate the biggest transfer of wealth in modern history.

Now, some individuals who perpetuated this fraud on humanity are paying the price.

That includes doctors.

One California doctor is finally paying the price for “intended fraud losses.”

The Department of Justice announced criminal charges against medical professionals, owners of medical businesses, and others for a “variety of COVID-19 fraud schemes with false billings exceeding $490 million.”

The DOJ “announced criminal charges against 18 defendants in nine federal districts across the United States for their alleged participation in various fraud schemes involving health care services that exploited the COVID-19 pandemic and allegedly resulted in over $490 million in COVID-19 related false billings to federal programs and theft from federally funded pandemic programs.”

One doctor is on the hook for $230 million.

A doctor in Orange County, #California, has been charged by federal prosecutors for orchestrating approximately $230 million worth of fraud during the #COVID19 pandemic. https://t.co/lX1qr0Mk0s

— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) April 27, 2023

From the DOJ:

In the Central District of California, a lab owner was charged for allegedly submitting over $358 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, HRSA, and a private insurance company for laboratory testing. The indictment alleges that the defendant’s lab performed COVID-19 screening testing for nursing homes and other facilities with vulnerable elderly populations, as well as primary and secondary schools. But to increase its reimbursements, the defendant allegedly fraudulently added claims for respiratory pathogen panel tests even though ordering providers and facility administrators did not want or need them. Also in the Central District of California, a medical doctor was charged for allegedly orchestrating an approximately $230 million fraud on the Uninsured Program. The doctor was the second highest biller in the country to the Uninsured Program, and he allegedly submitted fraudulent claims for treatment of patients who were insured, billed for services that were not rendered, and billed for services that were not medically necessary. He allegedly used over $100 million in fraud proceeds for high-risk options trading. The doctor is also charged with two other individuals for allegedly submitting over 70 fraudulent loan applications through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program and fraudulently obtaining over $3 million in loan funds.

“I am proud of the successful partnership of the CMS, the Department of Justice, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General to combat fraud, waste, and abuse in federal programs,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “It is particularly offensive to discover individuals who took advantage of the pandemic to defraud the government. CMS will continue to aggressively investigate COVID-19-related fraud and has already taken actions against 28 providers to protect the sustainability of the Medicare program.”

The announcement also includes first-of-their-kind charges against suppliers of COVID-19 over-the-counter tests, which Medicare began to cover in April 2022 for beneficiaries who requested them. These kits were provided to the public to slow the spread of the deadly disease, but wrongdoers allegedly sought to exploit the program by repeatedly supplying patients or, in some instances, deceased patients, with dozens of COVID-19 tests that they did not want or need. In the Middle District of Florida, a doctor and a marketer were charged for allegedly unlawfully purchasing Medicare beneficiary identification numbers and shipping over-the-counter tests to beneficiaries throughout the country who did not request the tests, causing over $8.4 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare.

“Today’s announcement marks the largest-ever coordinated law enforcement action in the United States targeting health care fraud schemes that exploit the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

“The Criminal Division’s Health Care Fraud Unit and our partners are committed to rooting out pandemic-related fraud and holding accountable anyone seeking to profit from a public health emergency.”

“The charges announced today demonstrate the FBI’s, along with its partner’s, commitment to ensuring that COVID-19 health care fraud does not go unpunished,” said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division.