Associated Press September 12, 2019
A Florida healthcare executive was sentenced
Thursday to 20 years in prison for orchestrating what prosecutors described as
a massive $1 billion Medicare fraud scheme.
U.S. District Judge Robert Scola imposed the
sentence on Philip Esformes, 50, in one of the biggest such cases in U.S.
history.
Scola called the case one of a violation of
trust of "epic proportions" and said Esformes was "somewhat of
an enigma" because of his obvious success combined with such a large
criminal operation.
"I think Mr. Esformes is a complicated
man," Scola said.
Trial testimony showed the wealthy Miami Beach
businessman operated a network of nursing homes and assisted living facilities
in South Florida that jurors found used kickbacks and bribes to gain business.
"People who needed care, people who wanted
to get better, they had no shot," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Allan
Medina. "The nature of the fraud, the conspiracy, the money-laundering
scheme, was atrocious."
Esformes was convicted by a jury in April
of 20 charges including money laundering, receiving healthcare kickbacks,
bribery conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors are also seeking
forfeiture of $38.5 million in assets.
Esformes, who has already spent more than three
years behind bars, delivered a tearful 16-minute speech apologizing for his
actions and for the embarrassment he caused his family. Friends testified about
Esformes' ample charitable giving and other good works.
"I've lost everything. I lost everything I
loved and cared about with the utmost intensity," he said. "There's
no one to blame but myself. I'm disgusted by what I did."
During the trial, a former Ivy League basketball
coach testified Esformes paid him $300,000 in bribes him to get his son into
the University of Pennsylvania. That coach, Jerome Allen, now an assistant with
the Boston Celtics, testified he would not have recruited Esformes' son if it
wasn't for the bribes.
Allen pleaded guilty and was sentenced to
probation in exchange for testifying against Esformes. Allen also was fined
more than $200,000.
There was also a series of text messages
discussing SAT scores between Esformes and Rick Singer, the admissions
consultant at the center of a college bribery scandal who pleaded guilty in a
Boston federal court.
A hospital administrator and a physician's
assistant and other co-conspirators pleaded guilty previously for their roles
in the health fraud scheme. Some of them testified against Esformes during the
seven-week trial.
The witnesses described how Esformes would
direct them to pay doctors in cash, using code words like
"fettuccine." They said the purpose for the kickbacks was to fill his
facilities at full capacity.
The scheme grew increasingly sophisticated and
soon they were inflating invoices that accounted for kickbacks and bribes,
according to testimony.
A state health regulator said she was paid to
provide a schedule of unannounced inspections to Esformes' collaborators,
saying she knew it was for their boss.
Defense attorney Howard Srebnick said Esformes
was not motivated by greed.
"There was no need for greed. He wanted to
prove that he could be successful," Srebnick said.
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