Juan Villa, who owned Blessed Medical Clinic in the Detroit area, has admitted to participating in a Medicare fraud scheme that resulted in fraudulent claims against Medicare totaling $2.4 million.
According to the Justice Department, Mr. Villa pleaded guilty to hiring patient recruiters to draw in Medicare beneficiaries. These recruiters then pay cash bribes to potential patients to come into the clinic and give the clinic their Medicare numbers and other data necessary for filing a claim against Medicare. Blessed Medical Clinic then used this information about the Medicare beneficiaries to file false claims against Medicare for testing and treatments that were medically unnecessary.
Committing Medicare fraud is no small matter. Having pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, Villa could be sentenced to as much as 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
Waters & Kraus is a national firm with highly skilled lawyers practicing qui tam litigation in four offices, including Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Baltimore. Our attorneys have decades of experience successfully representing whistleblowers in a variety of fraud cases. Contact us or call our attorneys at 800.226.9880 to learn more about our practice and how we can assist.