NIGERIANS THINKING ABOUT MEDICARE FRAUD , IS IT WORTH IT ?
BEWARE HE GOT 15 YEARS!!
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A Houston man was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday for stealing more than $900,000 from the Medicare program.
Christian Onwuegbusi, 56, owner of Houston-based Texas Memorial Medical Institute Rehabilitation Services, was convicted of theft by a government contractor for fraudulently billing Medicare for motorized wheelchairs that were never delivered.
Testimony in state District Judge Devon Anderson's court also showed that Onwuegbusi overbilled Medicaid for physical therapy services, some that were never provided.
Harris County prosecutors argued that the defendant billed the government more than $900,000 for motorized wheelchairs and then delivered less-expensive scooters.
The case was investigated by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Texas Attorney General's Office; the FBI; and the Office of Inspector General of the Health and Human Services Commission.
Stolen Medicare cash may have been sent overseas
Money and goods from Houston area tracked to Nigeria
By CINDY HORSWELL
Copyright 2009 Houston Chonicle
Not only do investigators say they have recently uncovered millions of dollars of health care fraud in the Houston area, but they also allege large sums of this stolen money may have been shipped out of the country.
“The theft of our limited health care funds is bad, but it's even worse when that money does not even stay in our economy,†said Pat Villafranca, a Houston FBI spokeswoman.
In a probable cause hearing Tuesday, Umawa Oke Imo, 54, of Nigeria was accused of operating a multimillion dollar health care fraud scheme at a physical therapy clinic at 9888 Bissonnet in Houston.
Mary Kelley, a Texas attorney general fraud investigator, testified that Imo's City Nursing Services of Texas never had a single licensed physical therapist but was paid $30 million in Medicare claims for therapy services from 2007 to 2009. She said the clinic reported seeing an average of 160 patients a day.
Recruiters, she said, were used to bring Medicare patients, who were often mentally challenged, to sign stacks of blank claim forms for services never rendered. The complaint against Imo alleges he would pay patients $100 to $150 for that first visit.
At the same time, Kelley testified that Imo, who has a home in Richmond, used his income to purchase a large, 25-room house in Nigeria. Imo also kept two luxury vehicles, a Hummer and Cadillac Escalade, there, she testified.
Kelley reported finding invoices totaling $2.8 million for multiple pieces of equipment from 18-wheelers to flatbeds that Imo had shipped to Nigeria . She also reported research was still being done on millions deposited into U.S. bank accounts belonging to Imo.
Imo never testified during this hearing. He remains in custody without bond and could not be reached for comment.
In another probable cause hearing, Dr. Arun Sharma, and his wife, Kiran, also a physician, from Kemah are accused in a federal complaint with operating pain management clinics in Webster and Baytown that unlawfully dispense controlled substances and billed for millions in services that were not performed.
Investigators allege the Sharmas sent at least $250,000 in cash back to their original home in India.
Their attorney, Chris Flood, said the couple has done nothing wrong. The cash was a loan for a relative.
cindy.horswell@ chron.com
Monday, 01 March 2010 19:57 Elombah.com
NAMES OF THOSE CHARGED, MANY OTHERS PENDING FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS.
US vs. Clifford Ubani, Princewill Njoku, Mary Ellis and Rolandae Mitchell-Straughter
US vs. Sunny Robinson, Manuel Deluna, Lisa Jones and Shirley A. Chavis
US vs. Kate Ose Olear and John Edward Perry III
US vs. Exechukwu J. Ohaka, Helen Ehi Etinfoh, Adebola Adebayo and Paula Whitfield
US vs. Oliver Nkuku, Kate Nkuku, Callistus Edozie and Obisike Okereke
US vs. John Nasky Okonkwo, Doris Ngozi Vinitski, Howard Grant, John Remi Lackman, Michael Kalu Obasi, Yolanda Stella Delrio, Darnell Denese Willis, Clinton Lee, Obisike Nwankwo, Ju-Ying Qian, Vicki Jackson Phillips, Basil Obasi Kalu, George Abayomi, Ogunnaike and Oliver Knuku
US vs Noel Jhagroo
There was a crowded courtroom as nearly two dozen people faced a judge on Medicare fraud charges. The men and women in court were arrested during a nationwide Medicare fraud roundup Wednesday.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott obtained a Harris County grand jury indictment charging a Houston durable medical equipment provider with first-degree felony theft. The charges stem from his scheme to bill Medicare $1.2 million for motorized wheelchairs, while instead delivering less expensive scooters to clients.
Sources disclose that Nigerians in places like Texas, Georgia, Washington D.C, Maryland and California have been singled out for investigation in retrospect for Medicare and Medicaid fraudulent billings. It is believed that other Nigerians provide authorities names and information leading to arrest and charges on these fraudsters.
Federal authorities arrested 32 people, including doctors, in a major Medicare fraud bust in New York, Louisiana, Boston and Houston, Maryland, District of Columbia, Atlanta targeting scams such as "arthritis kits" -- expensive braces that many patients never used.
It's the third major sweep since Attorney General Eric Holder, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced in May they were adding millions of dollars and dozens of agents to combat a problem that costs the U.S. billions each year.
Using about a dozen agents in targeted cities, including Miami, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, has recovered $371 million in false Medicare claims and charged 145 people across the country in just two months.
More than 200 agents worked on Wednesday's $16 million bust that included 12 search warrants at health care businesses and homes across the Houston area.
The owner of a Houston medical equipment supply firm has been convicted of bilking Medicaid for more than $1 million in bogus claims for adult diapers, authorities said.
Benjamin Essien, 34, of Houston, pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, five counts of health care fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft, according to federal and state officials.
Essien is scheduled to be sentenced May 14. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the conspiracy conviction and each of the five counts of health care fraud. Essien also faces two mandatory two-year prison terms for each count of aggravated identity theft. Those sentences must be served consecutively to other prison terms that may be imposed upon him.
Officials said that the diaper scheme operated from April 2004 to August 2006. They said that Essien billed Medicaid for about $1.8 million in bogus claims and received payments of about $1.1 million.
In addition, Christian O. Onwuegbusi, 54, operated a previous scheme to bill Medicaid and Medicare more than $1 million for physical therapy services, some of which were not performed. Both incidents are related to his upcoming trial.
“This individual profited lucratively from one illegal therapy scheme and apparently decided later to expand into other areas of health care fraud, all as a means to bilk government programs,†said Attorney General Abbott. “I am once again pleased that my office has the opportunity to work with Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal to see that justice is done for these alleged crimes.â€
He was arrested on August 30 at his residence by officers of Attorney General Abbott’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the FBI and Office of Inspector General of the Health and Human Services Commission. He remains in custody.
In phase one of his schemes to defraud the government, Onwuegbusi created Texas Memorial Medical Institute Rehabilitation Services (TMMI), ostensibly to provide a range of physical therapy treatments for patients, including those on Medicaid and Medicare. From May 1999 through September 2002 he fraudulently billed the government $1.08 million for treatments never performed, of which he was reimbursed $582,000 from Medicare and $108,107 from Medicaid.
Then in May 2002, Onwuegbusi’s TMMI opened a new durable medical equipment company, having a Medicare provider number listing him as the “director/officer.†From September 2002 until June 2003, he billed Medicare almost $1.2 million, receiving reimbursement of $900,000 of the total. The reimbursements were tied to the delivery of scooters valued at just over $500, instead of the more expensive motorized wheelchairs which he claimed were delivered. These were billed to Medicare for reimbursement of between $5,000 and $7,000.
Onwuegbusi was indicted in the latter case in June 2004, which involved only federal Medicare funds. The allegations against him for billing for nonexistent physical therapy sessions will be used as a “marker†of relevant ongoing conduct in his trial on the wheelchair billing allegations. Harris County Assistant District Attorney Vic Weisner is slated to prosecute Onwuegbusi.
According to officials Essien, who owned and operated Logic World Medical — a durable medical equipment company — used Medicaid beneficiaries' names, addresses and account numbers to file false claims for adult urinary incontinence supplies he did not deliver to the people.
He also billed for delivering supplies in amounts significantly less than the amounts billed to Medicaid.
Additionally, Essien billed Medicaid for adult urinary incontinence supplies — which include adult diapers, underpads, wipes and pull-up briefs — when the beneficiaries did not need them or whose doctors did not a prescribe them.
Though beneficiaries said they did not need or want the supplies, Essien billed Medicaid for extra-large sized diaper briefs, which have the highest Medicaid reimbursement rate. He also billed Medicaid for delivering more adult diapers than he had purchased from wholesale suppliers, authorities said.
Federal authorities say those businesses were giving patients "arthritis kits," which were nothing more than expensive orthotics that included knee and shoulder braces. Patients told authorities they were unnecessary and many never used them. But health care clinic owners billed between $3,000 to $4,000 for each kit.
Houston's other scam involved billing Medicare for thousands of dollars worth of liquid food like Ensure for patients who can't eat solid food. Authorities said clinic owners never distributed the food to patients.. In some cases, clinic owners billed patients who were dead when they allegedly received the items.
The suspects arrested Wednesday in Houston will make court appearances Thursday morning. Suspects in Boston, New York and Louisiana will have first appearances later today.
The first task force started in 2007 in Miami, a city authorities say alone is responsible for more than $3 billion a year in Medicare fraud. Clinic owners there would bill Medicare dozens of times for the same wheelchair, while never giving the medical equipment to patients.
The problems have become more complex since then.
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