DOJ announces $150 million in Covid health fraud, bogus vaccination prosecutions nationwide

The U.S. Division of Justice on Wednesday introduced prison expenses towards two folks in California in a scheme that allegedly made $144 million in false and fraudulent well being claims to federal applications for pointless Covid-19 exams.

The DOJ additionally introduced prison instances towards 19 different defendants, amongst them docs, a nurse, medical enterprise executives and others, for a further $8 million in false Covid-related billings to federal well being applications and theft from federally funded pandemic help applications. Prosecutors additionally allege some defendants offered pretend vaccination playing cards and bogus coronavirus cures.

The instances span 9 federal court docket districts.

“All through the pandemic, now we have seen trusted medical professionals orchestrate and perform egregious crimes towards their sufferers all for monetary achieve,” mentioned Luis Quesada, assistant director of the FBI’s Legal Investigative Division.

“These well being care fraud abuses erode the integrity and belief sufferers have with these within the well being care trade, significantly throughout a weak and worrisome time for a lot of people,” Quesada mentioned.

Within the main California case, the house owners of a medical laboratory, Imran Shams and Lourdes Navarro, each age 63, of Glendale, have been charged with a health-care fraud, kickback and cash laundering scheme that concerned the fraudulent billing of over $214 million for laboratory exams.

Greater than $125 million of these billings allegedly concerned fraudulent claims for Covid and respiratory pathogen exams that “have been submitted with out regard to medical necessity,” in accordance with prosecutors.

“Shams and Navarro fraudulently hid Shams’s function within the lab and his prior well being care-related prison convictions,” in accordance with the DOJ. Shams has been barred from taking part within the federal Medicare program for many years.

“The indictment additionally alleges that Shams and Navarro paid kickbacks to entrepreneurs who obtained specimens and take a look at orders, and laundered the proceeds of the scheme by means of shell firms Navarro managed, together with by making expenditures on actual property, luxurious objects, and private items and providers,” the Justice Division mentioned.

In Washington state, a 53-year-old Parker, Colorado, resident, Robert Van Camp, was accused of utilizing clean Covid-19 vaccination playing cards to forge and promote a whole bunch of pretend vaccine document playing cards, which he offered to patrons and distributors in at the least a dozen states, in accordance with the DOJ.

“Van Camp allegedly informed an spy that he had offered playing cards to ‘folks which might be going to the Olympics in Tokyo, three Olympians and their coach in Tokyo, Amsterdam, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Honduras,’” the DOJ mentioned in a information launch.

Van Camp additionally allegedly informed that agent, “I’ve obtained an organization, a veterinary firm, has 30 folks going to Canada each f—— day, Canada again. Mexico is huge. And like I mentioned, I am in 12 or 13 states, so till I get caught and go to jail, f— it, I am taking the cash, (laughs)! I do not care,” the DOJ mentioned.

Different defendants embrace a U.S. Postal Service employee, Lisa Hammell of Turnersville, New Jersey. Hammell is charged with creating pretend Covid vaccine playing cards and printing them whereas at work.

Hammell, 39, is accused of promoting at the least 400 bogus vaccination playing cards to individuals who had not truly acquired Covid photographs.

In separate instances in Maryland and Lengthy Island, New York, house owners of medical clinics are accused of acquiring confidential data from sufferers in search of coronavirus exams at drive-thru websites and briefly workplace visits, then submitting bogus claims to Medicare, Medicaid and different insurers for for much longer workplace visits that didn’t truly occur.

Within the Lengthy Island case, Dr. Perry Frankel, 64, of Roslyn, N.Y., was charged with health-care fraud for greater than $1.3 million in claims billed throughout the Covid pandemic.

Frankel’s lawyer Timothy Sini, in an emailed assertion, referred to as him a “revered heart specialist within the Lengthy Island area who has saved lives by offering very important cell medical screenings to regulation enforcement, faculty districts and plenty of communities throughout Lengthy Island and the 5 boroughs.”

“When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Dr. Frankel stepped up and introduced a lot wanted COVID-19 testing to the neighborhood. He has been acknowledged for his service by many, together with the White Home,” Sini mentioned.

“The Authorities, as half of a bigger initiative, is focusing on healthcare suppliers who supposedly took benefit of the pandemic to learn themselves financially. Nothing might be farther from the reality right here,” the lawyer mentioned. “Dr. Frankel supplied a a lot wanted service throughout a public well being disaster and an especially difficult time. It’s unlucky that the federal government’s claims search to undermine the optimistic nature of Dr. Frankel’s work. We sit up for pursuing justice for Dr. Frankel and clearing his title within the medical neighborhood.”

Within the Maryland case, Ron Elfenbein, a 47-year-old from Arnold, was charged with well being care fraud associated to greater than $1.5 million in claims that have been billed in reference to COVID-19 testing.

In Utah, a former worker of the preflight Covid testing service XpresCheck within the Salt Lake Metropolis Worldwide Airport terminal was charged with wire fraud for giving counterfeit damaging take a look at outcomes to folks touring by means of that airport.

The employee, 28-year-old Linda Tufui Toli of Salt Lake Metropolis, “allegedly intercepted calls from vacationers who have been in search of COVID testing providers from XpresCheck previous to touring to locations equivalent to Hawaii, Israel, and different areas which required vacationers to offer damaging COVID take a look at outcomes previous to departure,” the DOJ mentioned.

“Toli allegedly canceled the vacationers COVID exams by means of XpresCheck and organized for vacationers to buy counterfeit damaging COVID exams straight from her, and accepted fee for the counterfeit take a look at outcomes utilizing digital cell fee providers,” in accordance with the DOJ.