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October 14, 2010

Alleged Crime Syndicate Charged with Medicare Fraud
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Back in the United States, federal prosecutors have charged forty-four
people in what’s being called the single largest Medicare fraud scam to
date. The US attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet
Bharara, said the multi-state scheme was carried out by an Armenian
American crime syndicate.

Preet Bharara: "According to the first indictment, this criminal
organization opened more than 118 bogus medical clinics in twenty-five
different states. What’s more, these clinics billed Medicare for over
$100 million in false claims, even though most of the clinics existed
only on paper. Most were nothing more than shams, shells and
storefronts. The organization allegedly stole the identities of real
doctors, stole the identities of real Medicare beneficiaries, and then
submitted bill after bill for treatments that no doctor ever performed
and that no patient ever received."



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