Miami Beach Businessman Convicted in $1B Medicare Fraud Case
Last edited Fri Apr 5, 2019, 01:34 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: WTVJ/NBC 6 South Florida
Published 59 minutes ago
A federal jury has convicted a Florida health care executive on 20 criminal counts in a $1 billion Medicare fraud scheme.
Jurors reached the verdict Friday after four days of deliberating the fate of 50-year-old Philip Esformes in one of the biggest such cases in U.S. history.
The wealthy Miami Beach businessman operated a network of nursing homes and assisted living facilities in South Florida.
Jurors found him guilty of paying kickbacks and bribes to doctors and administrators so they would refer patients to his businesses. A former Ivy League basketball coach testified Esformes bribed him to get his son into school.
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Read more: https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Miami-Beach-Businessman-Convicted-in-1B-Medicare-Fraud-Case-508166311.html
OregonBlue
(7,754 posts)health planning committee.
Firestorm49
(4,035 posts)hughee99
(16,113 posts)Obama, Barack ESFORMES, PHILLIP
MIAMI,FL 33140 MAVEN RETIREMENT LIVING, INC. 5/14/12 $2,500
Obama, Barack ESFORMES, PHILLIP
MIAMI,FL 33140 MAVEN RETIREMENT LIVING, INC. 5/14/12 $2,500
Obama, Barack ESFORMES, SHERRI
MIAMI BEACH,FL 33140 HOMEMAKER 4/11/12 $2,500
Obama, Barack ESFORMES, SHERRI
MIAMI BEACH,FL 33140 HOMEMAKER 4/11/12 $2,500
jovibennett
(120 posts)TexasTowelie
(112,247 posts)I posted a thread about him near the end of January.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10457699
bahrbearian
(13,466 posts)sinkingfeeling
(51,457 posts)get to be a Congressman.
louis-t
(23,295 posts)PatrickforO
(14,576 posts)louis c
(8,652 posts)Mr. Sparkle
(2,935 posts)mitch96
(13,912 posts)Bribery, corruption, fraud.. throw in a few dead bodies..
Wait till you see next TUESDAY! not thats gonna set your hair on fire...
m
Perseus
(4,341 posts)This is like the opioid issue, doctors who prescribed these drugs, who were courted by the Sackler family and were given expensive gifts for them to prescribe their drugs should also be held accountable...Don't they jail pushers? If someone is caught pushing cocaine that person goes to jail, what is the difference here?
JohnnyRingo
(18,636 posts)...they were too busy chasing down Medicaid clients for driving too nice a car.
Marrah_Goodman
(1,586 posts)nitpicker
(7,153 posts)(snip)
A federal jury found a South Florida health care facility owner guilty today for his role in the largest health care fraud scheme ever charged by the Justice Department, involving over $1.3 billion in fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid for services that were not provided, were not medically necessary or were procured through the payment of kickbacks.
(snip)
According to evidence presented at trial, from approximately January 1998 through July 2016, Esformes led an extensive health care fraud conspiracy involving a network of assisted living facilities and skilled nursing facilities that he owned. Esformes bribed physicians to admit patients into his facilities, and then cycled the patients through his facilities, where they often failed to receive appropriate medical services, or received medically unnecessary services, which were then billed to Medicare and Medicaid, the evidence showed. Several witnesses testified to the poor conditions in the facilities and the inadequate care patients received, which Esformes was able to conceal from authorities by bribing an employee of a Florida state regulator for advance notice of surprise inspections scheduled to take place at his facilities. The evidence further showed that Esformes used his criminal proceeds to make a series of extravagant purchases, including luxury automobiles and a $360,000 watch. Esformes also used criminal proceeds to bribe the basketball coach at the University of Pennsylvania in exchange for his assistance in gaining admission for his son into the university. Altogether, the evidence established that Esformes personally benefited from the fraud and received in excess of $37 million.
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