US authorities have convicted Texas resident Lindell King and his wife Ynedra Diggs for a $1 million Medicare fraud scheme, including violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute.
The convicts owned and operated group homes where Medicare beneficiaries lived. They referred their group home residents to Behavioral Medicine of Houston (BMH), a community mental health center that claimed to provide partial hospitalization services. In exchange for these referrals, BMH paid the convicts and other similar ‘patient recruiters’ kickbacks. BMH concealed the kickbacks, which it provided either in cash or by check, as payment for ‘transportation’ or other fake services. Based on the kickbacks they received, Diggs and King were responsible for over $1 million that BMH billed to Medicare.
Authorities convicted Diggs and King of conspiring to defraud the US and to exchange health care kickbacks, and violating the Anti-Kickback Statute. Both convicts will receive their sentences in August 2022.
Source: US Department of Justice