A federal jury convicted a former CEO of a wellness clinic for defrauding the Louisiana Medicaid Application about quite a few decades.
According to courtroom paperwork and proof offered at trial, Victor Clark Kirk, 73, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was the CEO of St. Gabriel Well being Clinic Inc. (St. Gabriel), a Louisiana nonprofit company that supplied wellness care services to Medicaid recipients and other folks. St. Gabriel was a federally qualified overall health center (FQHC) that contracted with the Iberville Parish School Board to provide clinical solutions within the university district. As a FQHC, St. Gabriel could deliver primary care providers to college students as very well as services relevant to the diagnosis and therapy of psychological ailments – furnished that these kinds of providers were being medically vital – among other demands.
Proof at demo showed that St. Gabriel practitioners, at Kirk’s path, presented character advancement and other educational plans to full classrooms of college students throughout standard course durations. Kirk then brought on the fraudulent billing of these plans to Medicaid as team psychotherapy. To facilitate the fraudulent scheme, Kirk directed that St. Gabriel practitioners falsely diagnose learners with mental wellbeing disorders. From 2011 by 2015, Kirk triggered above $1.8 million in fraudulent statements for purported team psychotherapy services.
Kirk was convicted of conspiracy to commit well being care fraud and five counts of health and fitness treatment fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 12, 2023, and faces a optimum penalty of 10 a long time in jail for each rely. A federal district courtroom choose will determine any sentence right after looking at the U.S. Sentencing Suggestions and other statutory things.
Assistant Lawyer Basic Kenneth A. Well mannered, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Legal Division U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Gathe, Jr. for the Middle District of Louisiana Exclusive Agent in Charge Douglas A. Williams, Jr. of the FBI New Orleans Subject Office environment Director Jodi Edmonds LeJeune of the Louisiana Medicaid Fraud Manage Unit (MFCU) and Performing Special Agent in Charge Jason Meadows of the Office of Overall health and Human Services, Business of the Inspector Common (HHS-OIG) made the announcement.
The FBI, MFCU, and HHS-OIG investigated the circumstance, which was introduced as component of the Gulf Coast Strike Drive, supervised by the Felony Division’s Fraud Part and the U.S. Attorney’s Office environment for the Center District of Louisiana.
Assistant Main Justin M. Woodard and Demo Legal professional Kelly Z. Walters of the Legal Division’s Fraud Area and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen L. Craig for the Center District of Louisiana are prosecuting the circumstance.
The Health Care Fraud Strike Drive is portion of a joint initiative among the Office of Justice and HHS to concentrate their initiatives to avoid and deter fraud and implement present anti-fraud laws around the nation. Because its inception in March 2007, the Wellness Treatment Fraud Strike Force, which maintains 16 strike forces working in 27 districts, has billed approximately 4,000 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare plan for extra than $14 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Products and services, operating in conjunction with HHS-OIG, are using actions to enhance accountability and minimize the existence of fraudulent suppliers.