Description: Fort Smith, Arkansas criminal defense lawyer represented Defendant charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and money laundering.
Billy Joe Taylor, age 44, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and money laundering on October 27, 2022. According to court documents, Taylor and his co-conspirators submitted more than $134 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare in connection with diagnostic laboratory testing, including urine drug testing and tests for respiratory illnesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, that were medically unnecessary, not ordered by medical providers, and not provided as represented. Taylor and his co-conspirators obtained medical information and private personal information for Medicare beneficiaries, and then misused that confidential information to repeatedly submit claims to Medicare for diagnostic tests. According to court documents, Taylor and his co-conspirators received more than $38 million from Medicare on those fraudulent claims.
U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes for the Western District of Arkansas; Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Special Agent in Charge James A. Dawson, of the FBI’s Little Rock division; Special Agent in Charge Jason Meadows of the Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Dallas Regional Office; and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Altemus of the IRS-Criminal Investigation, Dallas Field Office, made the announcement
The FBI, HHS-OIG, and IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Elser of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Arkansas and Senior Litigation Counsel Jim Hayes and Trial Attorney D. Keith Clouser of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section’s National Rapid Response Strike Force prosecuted the case.
The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, comprised of 15 strike forces operating in 25 federal districts, has charged more than 5,000 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $24 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.
18 U.S.C. § 1347 and 1349 - Conspiracy to Commit Health Care Fraud
(1s)
18 U.S.C. § 1957 - Money laundering
(2s)
Outcome: 06/09/2023 125 JUDGMENT as to Billy Joe Taylor (1), Counts 1-16, 17 of the Indictment dismissed on the motion of the United States; Count 1s, Defendant sentenced to one hundred and twenty (120) months imprisonment to run consecutively to Count 2s; Three (3) years supervised release to run concurrently to Count 2s; $100.00 special assessment. Count 2s, Defendant sentenced to sixty (60) months imprisonment to run consecutively to Count 1s for a total sentence of one hundred and eighty (180) months imprisonment ; Three (3) years supervised release to run concurrently to Count 1s for a total term of three (3) years supervised release ; $100.00 special assessment for a total of $200.00 special assessment; $29,835,825.99 Restitution. Signed by Honorable P. K. Holmes III on June 9, 2023. (cc via CM/ECF: U.S. Probation Office, U.S. Marshals Service) (mjm) (Entered: 06/09/2023)
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