Four North Texans charged in $14.6 billion nationwide healthcare fraud crackdown
Four people were criminally charged in a North Texas federal court on Tuesday in connection with a multi-billion dollar crackdown on nationwide healthcare fraud, federal attorneys said.
Nationwide, the crackdown resulted in charges against 324 defendants, 96 of whom are doctors or other licensed professionals, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in North Texas. The charges against the four Texas defendants include billing Medicare, Tricare and other insurers for millions of dollars in false or fraudulent claims or services that were never performed.
- Demetrious Gilmore, 46, of Lubbock was charged by indictment with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, according to the statement. Through his businesses, Gilmore allegedly submitted $19 million worth of phony claims to a federal worker’s compensation program, according to the indictment. The claims were for benefits, items and services that were ineligible for coverage, not necessary or never performed. Federal authorities seized $1 million from accounts controlled by Gilmore, according to the statement.
- Gary Martin, 62, of McKinney was charged by indictment with soliciting and receiving kickbacks for referrals to federal healthcare programs, according to the statement. Martin allegedly submitted $73 million in fake claims to Medicare for over-the-counter COVID-19 tests in 2023. Once Medicare paid the reimbursement for the tests, a co-conspirator of Martin’s paid a kickback based on the reimbursement, federal attorneys said.
- Khadeer Khan Mohammed, 44, of India was charged by indictment with healthcare fraud, according to the statement. Mohammed allegedly submitted $93 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for genetic testing that was never requested, ordered or performed, federal attorneys said. Mohammed submitted the claims using identifying information of physicians who had no relationship to the patients for whom the claims were submitted. $65 million of Mohammed’s claims were paid and authorities seized $6 million from accounts Mohammed controlled, according to the statement.
- Olatunbosun Osukoya, 67, of Plano was charged by indictment with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, according to the statement. Osukoya allegedly submitted over $25 million in phony claims to Medicare, Tricare and other insurers for electroencephalogram testing. Osukoya allegedly sought out patients with insurance plans to undergo EEG tests, then recruited and paid kickbacks and bribes to physicians to refer those patients to a specific company, federal attorneys said. Osukoya was paid over $5 million for the fraudulent claims and paid out over $450,000 in bribes and kickbacks.
“These individuals lined their own pockets, egregiously stealing beneficiaries’ identities and pillaging the coffers of federal programs,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy Larson. “We will never tolerate this behavior and will relentlessly pursue prosecution of these offenders to the fullest extent possible.”
