Dirty Laundry

Everyone has “dirty laundry” that they would prefer others not to know about. I’m not talking about grass stains on your whites, but secrets that need to stay “in the vault” so to speak. An article in eNews Park Forest discusses how two Fla., men are probably wishing their money laundering scheme had stayed in the hamper instead of being exposed by the Medicare Strike Force.

The story reports that the two co-conspirators were part of a health care fraud scheme that bilked Medicare of more than $6 million from fraudulent claims associated with an outpatient physical therapy center. (Over nearly two years, the men submitted more than $10 million in fraudulent claims to the benefits program.)

Before it was determined that the therapy services were not legitimately prescribed by doctors nor performed on beneficiaries, the Medicare payments were deposited into the physical therapy company’s bank account. From there the money flowed to multiple people and other entities that served as shell companies.

The 43-year-old and 36-year-old both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering involving financial proceeds from a health care fraud scheme. They were each sentenced to 46 months and 37 months respectively in prison, then three years of supervised release. The criminals are also required to pay $1.8 million in restitution, jointly and severally with their co-conspirators.

Thanks to the Medicare Strike Force, there’s no hiding these men’s dirty laundry scheme anymore. While serving out their sentence, who knows – maybe these two may actually get to work in the prison’s laundry department. They’ll be laundering something different this time – mostly orange jump suits.

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