A Florida man has pleaded guilty to health-care and wire fraud charges arising from a $42 million scheme involving medical equipment, cancer genetic testing and a Paycheck Protection Program loan.
Chad Monroe, 48, admitted on 13 November that he conspired with others to submit claims for braces and genetic tests that Medicare beneficiaries did not want or need. A sentencing date has not been set.
According to the factual account presented by federal prosecutors, Monroe and his associates used three durable medical equipment companies to submit more than $26 million in claims to Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans and TRICARE. Prosecutors said ownership and control were concealed in enrolment documents.
The government’s case also traces the supply of doctors’ orders. Monroe admitted paying kickbacks to purported telemedicine companies to obtain orders for equipment and testing, then selling genetic-testing orders to laboratories that paid him more than $15 million in kickbacks.
A separate part of the plea concerns a PPP loan of more than $30,000. Prosecutors said false information about the ownership of one equipment company was used to qualify for the loan.
The government seized a 47-foot yacht valued at more than $600,000 and more than $1 million in connection with the charges. Forfeiture and seizure do not replace the sentencing process, which remains for the district judge after consideration of the statutory factors and advisory guidelines.
Monroe pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health-care fraud, which carries a maximum term of 10 years, and wire fraud, which carries a maximum of 30 years. Those figures are statutory ceilings rather than a prediction of the sentence that will be imposed.
