Feds charge 300 in Medicare fraud crackdown
Federal officials said more than 300 people nationwide have been charged in the sweep, the largest takedown ever by a
The defendants face a wide arrays of charges, including conspiracy to commit health care fraud, money laundering, mail fraud and violations of federal anti-kickback laws.
In one case unsealed Wednesday in
They were accused of bribing doctors to prescribe certain pain creams and medical equipment that weren't medically necessary. Those prescriptions were then filled by the
The companies would then bill insurers for the unneeded medications, often at hugely inflated costs. For example, the indictment said that a certain pain cream could be produced for around
In total, the defendants fraudulently billed
The doctor named in that indictment,
The case is pending, and because of the charges a
In another case,
The investigation also resulted in charges against 22 people in the central district, which includes
The documents allege not only fraudulent billing of
The pharmacies then billed TRICARE, with Garbino getting a kickback as high as 65 percent, court records say.
Officials said that the reimbursements for "compounding pharmacies" that produce the medications can be huge, as high as
Attorney General
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