Glendale Heights-based home health agency owners accused of Medicare fraud
Federal authorities arrested the owners of a Glendale Heights-based home health care business Thursday, and the ensuing charges implicated them in the largest health care fraud bust in the history of the Justice Department, officials said.
Zosima Victuelles, Mylene Masiclat and Maribel Cabrera, the owners of Sure Care, are accused of paying Dr. Yaseen Odeh, Dr. Mohammad Raza Khan and others more than $435,000 in kickbacks and bribes for the referral of Medicare beneficiaries to Sure Care, authorities said.
The five professionals face a combined 28-count indictment on conspiracy to offer and pay, and to solicit and receive, kickbacks and bribes for the referral of Medicare beneficiaries. There were several other arrests throughout Illinois.
“This week, we arrested once-trusted doctors, nurses and other medical professionals who were corrupted by greed and preyed on the vulnerable, utilizing them to bill for services or drugs that were unnecessary or never provided,” FBI Chicago Special Agent-in-Charge Michael J. Anderson said.
Anderson's office collaborated with several other agencies, including the U.S. attorney's office and IRS Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago.
The Illinois efforts were part of a nationwide bust that resulted in charges for more than 400 defendants in 41 federal districts.
A total of 115 doctors, nurses and other medical professionals face fraud charges involving $1.3 billion in false Medicare and Medicaid billings.
As a result, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will suspend payment to 295 medical providers across the country.
“Too many trusted medical professionals have chosen to violate their oaths and put greed ahead of their patients,” U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said of the busts.
“While today is a historic day, the department's work is not finished. In fact, it is just beginning. We will continue to find, arrest, prosecute, convict and incarcerate fraudsters and drug dealers wherever they are.”