President of Transportation Company Sentenced to Prison for Role in $70 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that the President of Transportation Service Providers Inc. was sentenced to 60 months in prison for his role in a health care fraud scheme. In January 2016, Damien Mayol was convicted of conspiracy to pay illegal health care kickbacks in a scheme that resulted in approximately $70 million in false claims to Medicare.
Trial evidence demonstrated the following:
- Mayol and his co-conspirators coordinated to pay illegal kickbacks to recruiters in order to facilitate patient referrals to three mental health clinics in the Miami area;
- The clinics billed Medicare for partial hospitalization program services that were either not medically necessary or not actually provided to patients;
- Group therapy notes and other patient records were falsified to support claims for Medicare reimbursement; and
- Medicare paid approximately $28 million in fraudulent claims.
Additionally, the United States District Court of the Southern District of Florida ordered Mayol to pay nearly $27 million in restitution. The Federal Bureau of Investigation handled the case as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force.
The DOJ Justice News release is available at:
United States Department of Justice. “President of Miami-Based Transportation Company Sentenced to 60 Months in Prison for Role in $70 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme.” Justice News. 25 Mar. 2016.