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Officials stated that a 64-year-old California woman is scheduled to be sentenced in January after pleading guilty last week to fraudulently submitting $359 million in claims to governmental and private insurance programs.<\/p>\nOfficials stated that a 64-year-old California woman is scheduled to be sentenced in January after pleading guilty last week to fraudulently submitting $359 million in claims to governmental and private insurance programs.<\/p>\n
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lourdes Navarro submitted claims for expensive and medically unnecessary respiratory pathogen panel (RPP) tests.<\/p>\n
Navarro pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 23 and faces up to 20 years in prison.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who stole from government health programs during the COVID-19 pandemic not only violated federal law, they betrayed the public trust,\u201d said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. \u201cAs this action to disrupt a $359 million scheme, and the Department\u2019s recent announcement involving over 300 defendants and over $830 million in alleged COVID-19 fraud make clear, the Justice Department will continue to find and hold accountable those who defrauded American taxpayers during the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n
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According to court documents, from June 2020 to April 2022,\u00a0 Navarro, 64, of Glendale, conspired with Imran Shams to obtain nasal swab specimens from residents and staff at nursing homes, assisted living facilities, rehabilitation facilities, and students and staff at primary and secondary schools, for the purported purpose of conducting screening tests to identify and isolate individuals infected with COVID-19.<\/p>\n
Obtaining those samples enabled Matias Clinical Laboratory, dba Health Care Providers Laboratory (HCPL), to perform RPP tests on some of the specimens, even though only COVID-19 testing had been ordered and even though there was no medical justification for conducting RPP tests.<\/p>\n
Navarro and Shams submitted, through HCPL, approximately $359 million in claims for the unnecessary RPP tests to Medicare, the Health Resources and Services Administration COVID-19 Uninsured Program, and a private health insurance company, and were reimbursed approximately $54 million.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe defendant used her management position at a clinical testing laboratory to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic for personal gain,\u201d said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department\u2019s Criminal Division. \u201cThis case demonstrates the Criminal Division\u2019s continued resolve in working with our partners to root out bad actors who steal from government health programs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shams previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 9, 2024.<\/p>\n
Trial Attorneys Gary A. Winters and Raymond E. Beckering III of the Criminal Division\u2019s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Maxwell Coll for the Central District of California obtained seizure warrants and is handling forfeiture.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Officials stated that a 64-year-old California woman is scheduled to be sentenced in January after pleading guilty last week to fraudulently submitting $359 million in claims to governmental and private insurance programs….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"\n