Updated at 3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7
An acupuncturist who owned a pair of clinics in Huntington Park was free to return to South Korea Friday after being sentenced to time-served for his role in a Medicare fraud scheme.
Won Suk Lee, 46, pleaded guilty to an aiding and abetting charge in connection with the scheme, in which more than $2.1 million in false claims were submitted to the federal health insurance program. He was sentenced to time-served Thursday by U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson.
Lee had been in custody since 2013, when he was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport after returning from South Korea.
His co-defendant, Eddie Choi, 46, was sentenced in June to 15 months in federal prison and a year in a halfway house for his role in the scheme.
According to prosecutors and Lee’s attorney, Lee would provide services to Medicare patients who were referred to him by Choi. Although Lee’s services, including acupuncture and massage, were not covered by Medicare, Choi would submit or arrange to have claims submitted to Medicare, prosecutors alleged in a 2012 indictment.
Prosecutors said Choi or his employees submitted $2.1 million in false claims to Medicare, and ultimately received about $1.2 million from the program. Choi then wrote checks to Lee, amounting to about 60 percent of the Medicare reimbursement amounts, prosecutors said.
Lee’s attorney, Gary Laff, said his client initially had no idea Choi was billing Medicare for his services. But when Lee eventually realized what was happening, he failed to do anything to stop the fraud, Laff said.
“Ultimately when he learned, he should have stopped it but he didn’t,” the attorney said.
Lee was initially considered a fugitive when he was indicted. Laff said Lee was in South Korea at the time because his visa had expired, and he worked with federal authorities to return to the United States after learning of the indictment. Pregerson noted in his ruling that Lee voluntarily chose to return to the country to face the charges.
Pregerson ordered restitution in the amount of more than $1 million, but Laff said Choi and co-defendant Seonweon Kim will be responsible for the payments.
— City News Service