LOS ANGELES
A federal jury has found a Hollywood Hills man guilty of nearly a dozen felonies for paying illegal kickbacks for patient referrals to his addiction treatment facilities located in Orange County, the Justice Department announced Friday.
Casey Mahoney, 48, was found guilty on Wednesday of one count of conspiracy to receive illegal remunerations for patient referrals, seven counts of illegal remunerations for patient referrals, and three counts of money laundering.
According to evidence presented at a nine-day trial, from at least October 2018 to December 2020, Mahoney paid nearly $2.9 million in illegal kickbacks to so-called “body brokers” who referred patients to Mahoney’s addiction treatment facilities, the Huntington Beach-based Healing Path Detox LLC, and the San Juan Capistrano-based Get Real Recovery Inc.
Those body brokers, in turn, paid thousands of dollars in cash to patients, which some patients used to purchase drugs to induce those patients to attend treatment at Mahoney’s facilities.
Mahoney concealed the illegal kickbacks by entering into sham contracts with the body brokers.
These contracts purportedly required fixed payments and prohibited payments based on the volume or value of the patient referrals, the evidence indicates.
In reality, Mahoney and the brokers negotiated payments based on the patients’ insurance reimbursements and the number of days Mahoney was able to bill for treatment.
Mahoney also laundered the proceeds of the conspiracy through payments to the mother of one of the body brokers, which Mahoney falsely characterized as consulting fees.
The jury also found Mahoney not guilty of one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax document.
U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton scheduled a Jan. 17 sentencing hearing.
At that hearing, Mahoney faces up to five years in prison on the conspiracy charge, up to 10 years in prison on each illegal remuneration count, and up to 20 years in prison on each money laundering count.
The FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation investigated this matter.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nandor Kiss of the Santa Ana Branch Office and Justice Department Trial Attorney Siobhan M. Namazi of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting this case.