Former GA insurance commissioner John Oxendine indicted for conspiracy to commit health care fraud
Previous Ga insurance coverage commissioner John Oxendine has been indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to dedicate well being care fraud.
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Channel 2 Investigative reporter Mark Winne has acquired he manufactured a court docket visual appearance previously right now. The plan allegedly included fraudulent insurance policy promises to big insurance corporations such as Aetna, Blue Cross/Blue Protect and United Health care.
High-profile Drew Findling, who is representing Oxendine, reported his regulation companion Marissa Goldberg and Oxendine achieved an FBI agent outside the house the Russell Federal creating Friday morning by pre-arrangement and Oxendine surrendered on the rates in opposition to him.
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The claims allegedly entail medically unneeded pharmacogenetic molecular genetic and toxicology screening. 1 of the allegations is that in Sept 2015, a doctor’s apply held a meeting at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Buckhead and Oxendine gave a speech exactly where he informed medical practitioners they necessary to order these kinds of screening for their sufferers.
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He’s also billed with conspiracy to dedicate income laundering.
“The indictment alleges that Oxendine conspired to acquire kickbacks for unwanted genetic and toxicology lab checks, and employed his insurance plan small business to conceal individuals kickbacks,” explained U.S. Lawyer Ryan K. Buchanan. “Patients go to their health care supplier for therapy with the expectation that their therapy or exam is required, not a scam for fraud.”
In accordance to the indictment, physicians with Jeffrey Gallups ENT apply had been pressured to order unnecessary screening from labs in Texsas. The lab corporation agreed to fork out Oxendine and Gallups a kickback of 50% of the net financial gain for the specimens submitted by Gallup’s apply to the lab.
In accordance to the indictment, in whole, the lab company submitted statements looking for about $2,500,000 in payment for laboratory tests purchased by Gallups’s exercise. The coverage corporations paid about $600,000 to the lab corporation as a result of these claims. The lab firm then paid out $260,000 in kickbacks via Oxendine’s coverage products and services enterprise. Oxendine employed a part of the kickback dollars to fork out money owed on behalf of Gallups, having to pay a $150,000 charitable contribution and $70,000 in attorney’s costs.
Keri Farley, Unique Agent in Demand of the FBI in Atlanta, claimed that Oxendine and some others concerned in the plan have been “more motivated by private greed than their duty to give ideal and vital treatment to people.”
Findling sent Winne a statement, indicating:
“As the son of a effectively-highly regarded Judge, a previous public servant dedicated to the State of Georgia and a extended-standing member of bar, John Oxendine understands the value of the pursuit of justice. We respect the religion that he has place in our business office. We will go after justice for him by aggressively investigating and analyzing the allegations in order to show his innocence. John Oxendine is a husband, a father, a stage-father, and a grandfather at the exact time he maintains a successful law exercise and zealously signifies his shoppers throughout the nation. He has been targeted in this investigation mainly because of his name and gravitas, but to be clear, he has not broken any legislation and is harmless of this indictment.”
Documents show Gallups pled responsible in October to a plan to defraud health and fitness care insurance vendors. A February document reported Gallups has cooperated and is continuing to cooperate in an ongoing investigation.
Lawyer Ray Moss of Moss and Gilmore explained he’s symbolizing Dr. Myron Jones, a retired Military colonel who worked at Gallups’ follow. He explained Jones objected to the genetic testing, acknowledged it was fraudulent, refused to comply and introduced a whistleblower lawsuit that eventually led to a criminal investigation and a multi-million-dollar civil settlement that involved not just the testing but unrelated allegations.
Oxendine was past elected as insurance coverage commissioner for the state of Georgia in 2006. He ran for governor in 2010 but dropped to Nathan Deal. In 2009, the state begun investigating marketing campaign finance violations immediately after Oxendine accepted $120,000 from insurance coverage businesses. Then in 2015, an Atlanta Journal-Structure investigation observed that he by no means returned $50,000 from a marketing campaign for governor and invested some of that revenue on a household and autos.
Just very last 7 days, the condition settled the final of these ethics circumstances.
