MICHIGAN
A federal judge Wednesday sentenced a patient recruiter to five years in prison for her role in a scheme involving approximately $1.5 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for home health care set up by kickbacks, according to officials.
U.S. District Judge Bernard A. Friedman sentenced Sophia Eggleston, 57, of Detroit, also ordered that Eggleston pay about $1.5 million as restitution.
In November 2018, following a three-day trial, Eggleston was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to receive health care kickbacks and two counts of receipt of health care kickbacks.
According to evidence, from 2009 to 2012, Eggleston and her co-conspirators were involved in an illegal kickback scheme to defraud Medicare of about $1.5 million through fraudulent home health claims, according to officials.
The evidence showed that Eggleston received kickbacks in exchange for referring Medicare beneficiaries to serve as patients at a home health agency owned by her co-conspirators.
Eggleston’s co-conspirators then submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare for home health services that were purportedly provided to those beneficiaries, officials stated.
The court ordered that Eggleston’s restitution was for her Medicare program from her referrals, according to officials.
DOJ NOTED:
The FBI, HHS-OIG and IRS-CI investigated the case, which was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. Trial Attorney Howard Locker of the Fraud Section prosecuted the case.
The Fraud Section leads the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which maintains 14 strike forces operating in 23 districts, has charged nearly 4,000 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $14 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.