New York Paralegal Blog

In a significant victory against health care fraud, Gary Cox, the 79-year-old CEO of Power Mobility Doctor Rx, LLC (DMERx), was convicted by a federal jury on Tuesday, June 3, 2025.  Cox was found guilty for his central role in a sophisticated conspiracy that generated false doctors' orders, leading to fraudulent bills to Medicare and other federal health care programs exceeding  $1 billion . According to the Department of Justice, Cox and his co-conspirators operated an internet-based platform, DMERx, which served as the hub for this extensive fraud. The scheme targeted hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries through misleading mailers, television advertisements, and calls from offshore call centers. These tactics were used to obtain beneficiaries' personal information and their agreement to accept medically unnecessary items like orthotic braces and pain creams. Here's how the scheme worked: DMERx connected pharmacies, durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers, a...

NEW YORK— Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced that his office secured a $13.4 million settlement with New York Downtown Hospital to resolve a Medicaid fraud case involving illegal payments the hospital received on claims for unlicensed inpatient drug and alcohol treatment services and rendered to patients who were unlawfully referred there.

An indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Detroit was unsealed today, charging 26 individuals for their participation in a large-scale health care fraud and drug distribution scheme, United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced today. McQuade was joined in her announcement by Special Agent in Charge Robert L. Corso of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Special Agent in Charge Andrew G. Arena of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Lamont Pugh, Special Agent in Charge of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services.

ATLANTA—ROBERT WILLIAMS, 72, of Atlanta, Georgia, pleaded guilty today in federal district court on two counts of health care fraud as part of a scheme to bill for group psychological therapy that WILLIAMS never provided. United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said, “With so many elderly citizens and others who need specialized psychological care, this defendant ignored his duty as a doctor and became a billing machine who claimed to treat patients who were in fact dead. This blatant attempt to rip off the system took funds and care away from real live patients with real problems. Medicare and Medicaid need all the money they can get for legitimate patient care and this physician will get none of that money.” “This case sends a strong message that Medicare and Medicaid fraud will not be tolerated in Georgia,” said Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens. “At a time when our state budget is heavily strained, every dollar intended for the needy must reach the recipient. We will conti...

WASHINGTON—Two owners of a fraudulent Detroit-area medical clinic, Martin and Joaquin Tasis, and a man who helped them launder the proceeds of the fraud, Leoncio Alayon, were convicted on 5/6/2011 by a federal jury in Detroit for their roles in a $9.1 million Medicare fraud scheme, the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS) announced. Martin Tasis and Joaquin Tasis were each convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to pay health care kickbacks and three counts of health care fraud. Martin Tasis was also convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of money laundering, and found not guilty on one money laundering count. Alayon was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of money laundering. According to evidence presented during the one-week trial, Martin and Joaquin Tasis were owners of Dearborn Rehabilitation and Medical Center (DMRC), a...

WASHINGTON—Two Miami-area corporations, American Therapeutic Corporation (ATC) and Medlink Professional Management Group Inc., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Miami for a fraud scheme that resulted in the submission of more than $200 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS) announced. According to court documents, ATC is a Florida corporation headquartered in Miami that operated purported partial hospitalization programs (PHPs) in seven different locations throughout South Florida and Orlando, Fla. A PHP is a form of intensive treatment for severe mental illness. Medlink is a Florida corporation headquartered in Miami that purported to act as a “management company” for health care businesses. In reality, ATC and a related company, the American Sleep Institute (ASI), were Medlink’s only clients. ATC and Medlink are each charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud in a superseding indictment unsealed...

AstraZeneca LP and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP will pay $520 million to resolve allegations that AstraZeneca illegally marketed the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel for uses not approved as safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services’ Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) announced today. Such unapproved uses are also known as "off-label" uses because they are not included in the drug’s FDA approved product label. The Wilmington, Del.-based company signed a civil settlement to resolve allegations that by marketing Seroquel for unapproved uses, the company caused false claims for payment to be submitted to federal insurance programs including Medicaid, Medicare and TRICARE programs, and to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program and the Bureau of Prisons.

HOUSTON—Dr. Arun Sharma, 56, and Dr. Kiran Sharma, 54, both of Kemah, Texas, have been convicted of conspiring to commit health care fraud over a 10-year-period in the Southern District of Texas, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today. The doctors were set to begin trial today when they each instead opted to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of health care fraud. In entering their pleas today before United States District Judge David Hittner, Arun Sharma (Dr. A) and Kiran Sharma (Dr. K) admitted that from Jan. 1, 1998, through June 10, 2009, they fraudulently billed Medicare, Medicaid and various private health care providers for medical procedures that were not performed. Specifically, during the time period of the conspiracy, the defendants owned and operated multiple medical clinics operating under the name Allergy, Asthma, Arthritis Pain Center, with two principle locations in Baytown and Webster, Texas, (the clinics). While some of patients ...