Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney Blog

In 2008, the Federal Government recouped $2.14 billion from people who committed Southern California Medi-Cal fraud and other similar crimes across the nation. Last year, thanks to a dedicated effort inside the Obama Administration, the Federal Government recouped $4.1 billion -- nearly double the 2008 amount. The number of people charged with fraud across the U.S. also bumped up 75% over the 2008 numbers.

Unsurprisingly, the Obama Administration has been celebrating. Kathleen Sebelius, the Health and Human Service Secretary, blogged about the report: "The Obama Administration is doing more to stop fraud before it happens… Department of Justice officials are tracking fraud scams as they move across the country, so that criminals are spotted when they try to re-enroll into Medicare or Medicaid.”

Good news for tax payers – but what if you’ve been caught up in the dragnet and charged with Southern California Medicare fraud?

Defendants in cases involving Los Angeles credit card fraud, insurance fraud, and identity theft often face a stiff and not very compassionate battle for sympathy and understanding. Given that we're in a tight economy – both nationally and here at home in California – citizens are inclined to deeply resent Medicare scammers.

The Obama Administration released its report on the same day that it rolled out new regulations to control and deal with “self identified overpayments” for Medicare suppliers and providers. Individuals who do not report overpayments could be held in breach of the False Claims Act. Doctors, chiropractors and other caregivers who fail to comply with this new regulation could be hit with serious civil penalties and other punishments.

The Obama Administration is clearly "for real" in its fight against Medicare fraud.

So if you are a defendant, you need to get serious in terms of your preparation. If you have been charged incorrectly or unfairly, don’t expect prosecutors to go easy on you. Start now to compile and execute the powerful defense. Likewise, if you did do something – possibly very wrong – you need to think strategically and clearly about your next actions.

You might feel regretful, scared or even angry. Likewise, you might feel confused and overwhelmed by what's happening to you. But what's past is past. You need to focus right now on the future. That means:

A. Understanding exactly what the charges against you mean and what's likely to happen.

B. Coming up with a very clear outcome that you want to achieve with respect to your charges and potential trial.

C. Obtaining resources to help you connect from A to B.

For experienced help with your Southern California Medicare fraud case, connect with Michael Kraut of Los Angeles’ Kraut Law Group. He is a former prosecutor who has lots of experience with sophisticated Southern California white collar crime cases. Attorney Kraut can provide exceptional representation and extremely strategic thinking for you.

Last week, a man pleaded guilty to a $21 million fraud plot that reads like something out of the annals of Los Angeles Medicare fraud files. And the story did take place in “LA”—but Louisiana, LA, not Los Angeles, LA.

Still, the story is pregnant with lessons for people (and family members of people) who have been recently arrested and charged with crimes like Southern California insurance fraud, Los Angeles credit card fraud, and all other types of Los Angeles white-collar crime.

The accusations are, sadly, typical and mundane. According to the Associated Press, Rodney Taylor, a 45-year-old Louisiana man, recruited state companies to bill Medicare fraudulently for certain pieces of medical equipment. This scam, which persisted from 2004 to 2009, ultimately led to $21 million in fraudulent claims, according to prosecutors.

Taylor apparently obtained prescriptions for equipment from the doctors of Medicare beneficiaries and then sold those prescriptions back to third parties, who then filed false claims to Medicare. It was a convoluted scheme, as most cases of Los Angeles Medicare fraud are. Taylor has pleaded guilty to the conspiracies charges. He could face up to 15 years behind bars. No sentencing date has been set. Among the equipment that he acquired to resell fraudulently included power wheelchairs, accessories for wheelchairs, and arm braces and leg braces. (On top of the jail sentence, he faces a $500,000 fine.)

Bear in mind that Taylor pleaded guilty to just one count of healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy—many Los Angeles Medicare fraud defendants face more diverse and even scarier charges.

Consider all the prosecutorial “fire power” aimed your way—groups as diverse as the FBI, Department of Health and Human Services, California Attorney General’s Office, and the Department of Justice can all collaborate to build a case against you. You need to have a very powerful and an adroit defense.

One of the most-respected and well-versed Los Angeles Medicare fraud attorneys is Michael Kraut of the Kraut Law Group. Mr. Kraut brings 14-plus years of “working the other side” as a prosecutor to help his clients come to terms with their charges and develop sophisticated and powerful responses to prosecutorial charges.

Angelenos read the stories all the time and judge harshly: when doctors, chiropractors, dentists, pharmacists and other providers commit healthcare fraud in Los Angeles, we have a visceral reaction of disgust.

• How could someone charged with caring for the lives of our neighbors so grotesquely take advantage of their positions of power?
• Given our fiscal crisis at home here in California and nationwide, why would anyone try to rob the already fast-dwindling Medicare coffers?

If you or someone you care about has been charged with a crime, such as Southern California health care fraud – or even a marginally-related crime, such as insurance fraud in Los Angeles, credit card fraud in Burbank, etc. – you may feel an urge to respond defensively. First of all, the charge against you might be unfair, unwarranted, or overly harsh. But even if you did do something wrong, it wasn’t as if you sat up in bed one morning and decided to go down the “path of evil” for arbitrary reasons.

In fact, very few people engage in Los Angeles health care fraud schemes to be purposefully immoral. Quite to the contrary, Los Angeles healthcare fraud often begins when a professional or personal need is not met. For instance, perhaps you are a physician who got sick and tired of the way that the insurance companies treated you and withheld funds. Your practice suffered, and you found it more and more difficult to keep up with your workload, treat your patients with compassion and attention, and have a life at the end of the day.

So you felt like you “deserved” a little something back for your efforts.

Thus, you went down a slippery slope. You began to engage in illegal activities that grew in sophistication, size, and complexity over time. This continued until, of course, you were investigated, arrested and charged.

At the end of the day, yes, you engaged in stupid or illegal practices. But you were simply trying to even out an unfair playing field that prevented you from doing the good work that you went into medicine to do.

The question now is: What can you do to set the score right, make effective reparations, protect your professional reputation and license (if possible), and respond to critics, both in your community and in your professional and personal circles?

The Kraut Law Group has an incisive, compassionate, and highly respected team. A Los Angeles criminal lawyer can listen to your needs and help you develop strategies to minimize your penalties and maximize your ability to move on from this event. Attorney Michael Kraut is a former prosecutor (he spent nearly a decade and half as a Senior Deputy District Attorney for Los Angeles), so he understands how prosecutors operate and how defendants can best fight the charges against them.

Last Monday, 61-year-old Christopher Iruke was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for designing and executing a Los Angeles Medicare fraud scheme; he leveraged his position as a local pastor to defraud the government. Iruke and his wife, Connie Ikpoh, and Aura Marroquin (an employee) were convicted in August of Los Angeles health care fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.

Last Monday, US District Judge Terry Hatter sentenced Iruke for his role in the complicated scheme. According to a CNN report, during the 2011 trial, prosecutors presented evidence “that Iruke bought fraudulent prescriptions and documents…to bill Medicare for equipment that were either medically unnecessary or never provided”…for instance, they billed Medicare of about $6,000 for a power wheelchair that actually cost closer to $900.

As Iruke’s situation escalated and became more legally and logistically entangled, he asked his sister to protect him from a Medicare audit by opening two additional medical supply firms. Witnesses told jurors that Iruke and his coconspirators “paid kickbacks to street level marketers to offer Medicare beneficiaries free [devices and equipment] in exchange for the beneficiaries’ Medicare numbers and personal information.” Iruke and his conspirators allegedly leveraged these data as part of their complicated scheme.

Iruke’s case is classic in the sense that what started out as relatively simple and straight forward Los Angeles Medicare fraud escalated and became more complicated. Eventually, all of the complications proved too much, and the scheme collapsed. Unfortunately, individuals who have been tried for crimes like Southern California insurance fraud, Los Angeles credit card fraud, etc., often “dig themselves deeper” once they have gotten into trouble. When you compound your legal woes by committing more fraud and more crime, you vastly complicate the job of your Los Angeles white collar criminal defense attorney and reduce your odds of a successful outcome for your defense.

No matter where you are in the legal process, it’s never too late to begin to get proper and effective legal guidance. Connect with a professional at the Kraut Law Group to explore strategies to protect your legal rights and make the best out of your situation.