A North Carolina-based nurse has to face the law for around $15 million worth of scam wherein he filed false claims for medical equipment when he was employed with a tele-medicine firm.
The news release confirmed Justin Segrest, 44, belonging to Mount Airy, was found guilty. In addition, the accused has accepted the charges against him in court, further confirming the news release.
The scam took place over a period of two years, specifically in 2018 and 2019. The accused said he had signed fake medical records that described ‘assessments’ of medicare beneficiaries. Besides, he had also given fake certifications for medical examinations when in reality, he had no contact with those beneficiaries and made no confirmation as to whether the devices were medically necessary or whether the beneficiaries needed them.
During his stint with a Delaware telemedicine firm in 2018 and 19, he committed this crime. He had submitted thousands of medical equipments claims during this period.
Now that the charges against him are proven, what awaits him is around five years in prison and a whopping fine of approximately $250,000. The date of the sentence has not been decided.
Further information released by the prosecutors says that the accused had obtained unsigned orders for orthopedic braces for beneficiaries. He had signed and returned these to his firm in exchange for about $15 for each fraudulent assessment.
The accused is now currently free on bond. The HHS-OIG and FBI inquired into the incident. And the prosecution is being carried out by Assistant U.S Attorney Graham Billings.