Jury Convicts Medicare Scammers
Bradley J. Schlozman, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri said a federal jury found Kennedy Igbokwe of Nigeria guilty of health care fraud, money laundering and other offenses. Igbokwe, who owns and operates Cardinal Healthcare in Kansas City (obviously not to be confused with Cardinal Health), bribed two doctors to falsely verify that Medicare beneficiaries were so disabled that they needed motorized wheelchairs. Igbokwe then submitted numerous fraudulent claims to Medicare for power wheelchairs. After receiving approximately $4,000 from Medicare for each of these claims, he then provided some Medicare beneficiaries with a less expensive scooter instead, or in some instances, no type of power wheelchair or scooter at all.
Between January 2002 and September 2005, Igbokwe and co-defendants submitted more than $5M worth of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare and received $2M+ from the administration. Igbokwe was also found guilty of four counts of money laundering. Four co-defendants, including the owners of two medical supply companies and two former physicians, have pleaded guilty to their roles in the fraud scheme. See this release for more details.
August 30, 2006 Related topics: Legal & legislative, Ethics & Scandals