The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced charges from a grand jury in New Jersey issued against the owner of multiple telemedicine companies.
The defendant is based in Florida and runs a group known as the Video Doctor Network, which allegedly participated in a widespread Medicare fraud scheme.
Case background
The owner of the Video Doctor Network is Creaghan Harry, who was charged with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud and with income tax evasion. He had also previously been charged with other co-conspirators with conspiracy to defraud the United States, money laundering and paying and receiving kickbacks.
The charges state the defendant allegedly solicited illegal bribes and kickbacks from durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers and marketers in return for orders involving medications and DME braces.
Harry allegedly attempted to conceal these kickbacks by telling DME suppliers to pay him through various shell companies based in the United States and Latin America. He then allegedly would transfer funds from these companies to his telemedicine companies to pay physicians to write unnecessary orders for various DME-related treatments. Patients who received those unnecessary treatments would be contacted through international telemarketing networks.
The fraudulent scheme billed Medicare for more than $784 million, and the suppliers were allegedly paid more than $247 million for their part in the plot.
One co-conspirator already pled guilty in September 2019 for his involvement in this kickback and money laundering scheme.
For more information about what you should do if you uncover evidence of fraud within a healthcare organization, contact an experienced whistleblower attorney at Kardell Law Group.
