19 Charged in Bid to Bilk Medicare of $15 Million
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Nineteen people, including 11 from Los Angeles and Orange counties, have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Phoenix on charges of bilking Medicare out of more than $15 million, prosecutors said Thursday.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Mike Johns said the defendants are accused of setting up fraudulent storefront companies that purported to sell durable medical equipment to the elderly.
The suspects, he said, hired marketers to go door to door in minority neighborhoods telling Medicare beneficiaries that they could obtain free beds, mattresses and other merchandise by providing personal Medicare information to the solicitors.
Johns said the defendants then created false medical records and forged physician signatures to obtain reimbursement from Medicare for items that were never delivered to the patients.
The investigation was conducted by the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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