Fort Worth mansion destroyed in fire linked to multi-million-dollar fraud, feds say
A mansion that belonged to a Tarrant County doctor and his wife burned down in 2017 when the couple tried to destroy evidence of their multi-million-dollar healthcare fraud scheme, federal authorities say.
Mark and Melissa Kuper were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud on July 17. They were arrested and pleaded not guilty in court on Monday, according to court records.
Mark Kuper operated the Texas Center for Orthopedic and Spinal Disorders, which had two clinics in Fort Worth and Weatherford. While he started as a surgeon, he changed his practice to an unregistered pain management clinic in 2014, according to court records.
A physical therapist who worked at the center, Travis Couey, was also arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit health fraud. Mark Kuper is also charged with health care fraud, and his wife, Melissa Kuper — the clinic’s office manager — is charged with unlawful distribution of drugs.
An attorney for Mark Kuper declined comment Wednesday, while attorneys for Melissa Kuper and Couey did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
From 2014 to 2017, Mark Kuper took advantage of a large patient population, including those who were underserved, disadvantaged and elderly, according to a federal indictment filed against him in the Northern of District of Texas - Fort Worth. He, Melissa Kuper and Couey submitted $10 million of false claims to Medicare, Medicare or TRICARE for medical services they never performed, the indictment says.
Mark Kuper forced patients to attend frequent physical therapy and substance abuse programs — even if they were unnecessary — and then billed those sessions at a higher cost than they were worth, according to court documents. For example, patients attended physical therapy sessions as a group with a physical trainer who was not medically qualified, but Kuper billed the sessions as one-on-one appointments with Couley, a trained physical therapist, authorities said.
Similarly, patients’ psychotherapy sessions lasted about 15 to 20 minutes, but Kuper allegedly billed them as hour-long sessions. Much of the time, Kuper billed treatments as if he personally administered them, but this was often a lie, court documents say.
On some days, Kuper claimed he personally did more than 24 hours worth of work. In one instance, he claimed to have done 140 hours worth of medical treatment in one day, the indictment says.
If patients did not attend physical therapy sessions, Kuper told staff not to give them pain medication, according to a whistleblower lawsuit filed against Kuper in 2016 by a former substance abuse counselor at the clinic. In one case, Kuper ordered that a patient in a wheelchair with cerebral palsy have her pain meds cut because she missed physical therapy, the suit says.
He also unnecessarily prescribed patients addictive medicines, such as oxycodone, the whistleblower suit says.
“Kuper’s substance abuse counseling scheme is the roach motel, and opiates are the bait,” the whistleblower lawsuit says. “Patients are locked into a perpetual cycle of short counseling sessions that serve only one purpose: to enrich Kuper. No one checks out.”
Melissa Kuper also dispensed prescriptions, which is illegal because she is not a licensed medical professional, according to court documents.
In 2017, Mark Kuper and the clinic received subpoenas from the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid fraud unit, according to the indictment.
On Oct. 26, 2017, Melissa Kuper set fire to billing and medical records at the couple’s house in the 4900 block of Corriente Lane near Benbrook, according to the indictment. The fire spread from the outdoor fireplace to the Kupers’ $1.6 million mansion, which was destroyed. Firefighters said they found charred and burned records in the fireplace, the indictment said.
This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 5:24 PM.
