A San Antonio businessman and two others face a number of federal fees associated to an alleged $14.5 million
well being care fraud
scheme.
A federal grand jury indicted Kuba Zarobkiewicz, 35, of San Antonio, and Anthony Fermin, 32, of south Florida, in reference to their possession of medical gear firms and pharmacies that allegedly paid kickbacks to telemarketing corporations in alternate for signed medical doctors’ orders issued for pointless hip, knee and again braces.
Zarobkiewicz, Fermin and Farrukh Mirza, 39, the Richmond proprietor of the telemarketing firms, had been charged final month with conspiracy to pay and obtain well being care kickbacks, conspiracy to commit well being care fraud, id theft and different counts.
All three entered not responsible pleas and had been launched on unsecured bond whereas they await trial, which is about for Feb. 21 earlier than
U.S. District Decide Jason Pulliam
in San Antonio.
If convicted, every faces as much as 5 years in jail on the rely of conspiracy to pay and obtain healthcare kickbacks, as much as 10 years in jail on the well being fraud fees and a compulsory two-year consecutive sentence if convicted on the id theft cost.
On ExpressNews.com:
San Antonio medical doctors concerned in kickback scheme, whistleblowers and feds allege in lawsuit
Vinoo Varghese, a New York lawyer representing Mirza, denied the allegations in opposition to his consumer.
“Mr. Mirza is a law-abiding citizen,” Varghese mentioned in an e mail. “He’s a former regulation enforcement official. The federal government is flawed about Mr. Mirza and he appears ahead to clearing his identify.”
Attorneys for the 2 different defendants didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Based on the indictment, Zarobkiewicz and Fermin’s pharmacy firms had been registered Medicare suppliers.
The 2 agreed to pay Mirza and his telemarketing firms if he despatched signed prescriptions for brace merchandise to their pharmacy firms, the indictment says. Zarobkiewicz was listed on a Medicare software for PharMax and Procare Biomedical, whereas Fermin was listed for Procare and Elevate Pharmacy.
Mirza’s telemarketing firms employed quite a few people to name Medicare beneficiaries and try to substantiate Medicare identification quantity and push them to simply accept a “free” orthotic brace product, the indictment says.
The telemarketers would then try to attach the beneficiary with a health care provider, the charging paperwork allege. “In virtually all circumstances, this could both be DOCTOR 1 or DOCTOR 2,” it provides. The physicians weren’t named.
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Both physician would have a short dialog with the beneficiary then write a prescription for a brace product “with out regard for whether or not the product was medically essential,” the indictment says. In some circumstances, it provides, beneficiaries had been despatched a brace despite the fact that they by no means spoke with a health care provider.
The prescribing physician would then ship the prescription again to the telemarketing firm, which forwarded it on to Zarobkiewicz and Fermin and their pharmacy firms, the indictment alleges. The 2 would ship “an undesirable and medically pointless” brace product to the beneficiary, the doc provides.
Zarobkiewicz and Fermin used their pharmacy firms to invoice Medicare for the merchandise.
From August 2020 to November 2021, the pair billed Medicare about $14.5 million for the merchandise that had been “referred by way of unlawful kickbacks,” the indictment alleges. About $7 million was really paid.
Over the identical time interval, the pair paid Mirza about $2 million in “unlawful kickbacks” in alternate for the signed prescriptions, the indictment says.
pdanner@express-news.internet
