Former co-owner of City of Angels Medical Center sentenced for fraud

February 23rd, 2010 - 5:10 am ICT by BNO News  

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (BNO NEWS) – The former co-owner of City of Angels Medical Center was sentenced Monday for paying illegal kickbacks for appointments of “patients,” prosecutors said.

Robert Bourseau, 75, of Los Angeles, recruited homeless individuals from Los Angeles’ “Skid Row” to make medical appointments and request unnecessary medical services, committing health care fraud.

He was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison and was ordered to pay $4.1 million in restitution for his role in the scheme that defrauded Medicare and Medi-Cal.

Several people were involved in the scheme. Bourseau and Dante Nicholson were indicted, along with Intercare Health Systems, Inc., in January 2009.

Since September 2008, Nicholson, Sabaratnam, a physician, Estill Mitts, who operated a center that recruited homeless people, and Vincent Rubio, the former chief financial officer of Tustin Hospital and Medical Center pleaded guilty to paying kickbacks for patient referrals.

In late January, Bourseau and Sabaratnam agreed to pay the United States $10 million to resolve a civil lawsuit that they defrauded Medicare and Medi-Cal.

Kickback schemes tend to “degrade the health care system all because of greed and money,” U.S. District Judge George H. King said. “Society must know that those who abuse the health care system must answer for that conduct in court,” he added.

Related Stories

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted in Business |

Subscribe