A physician from Carson whose referrals led to more than $1.7 million in bogus Medicare billing was sentenced Monday to two years in federal prison for participating in a conspiracy to defraud Medicare by writing prescriptions for unneeded power wheelchairs and other medical equipment.
U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald also ordered Charles Okoye, 52, to pay a portion of $931,000 in restitution, with $5,000 due immediately.
The judge said it was likely that Okoye would lose his medical license as a result of the case.
“I should have known better,” Okoye told Fitzgerald.
Arguing for leniency, defense attorney Leslie McAFee said his client had a long history of service to the Nigerian community in Los Angeles.
Okoye pleaded guilty in August to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, admitting he wrote prescriptions for medically unnecessary equipment for patients referred to him through Gardena-based Adelco Medical Distributors Inc.
Between November 2008 and November 2011, Adelco recruited Medicare beneficiaries and took them to see Okoye, who would issue prescriptions, mostly for power wheelchairs, after giving the “patients” a single, cursory examination.
Adelco then billed Medicare for providing the wheelchairs, which the beneficiaries did not want and often never used. In return for these referrals, Okoye received illegal kickbacks for every prescription from Adelco’s owner, Adeline Ekwebelem.
Okoye’s referrals led Adelco to submit about $1.7 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, and Medicare paid Adelco more than $820,000. Okoye also fraudulently billed Medicare more than $50,000 for services he claimed to have provided to “patients” who received the unnecessary prescriptions.
Ekwebelem, 51, of Hawthorne was found guilty in September of 16 federal charges stemming from the scheme, and is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 15.
Three other defendants previously pleaded guilty in the case. Authorities are seeking a sixth defendant — identified as physician Uche Chukwudi — who allegedly fled and remains a fugitive.
In his plea agreement, Okoye also admitted he engaged in a similar unlawful arrangement with another medical supply company, Esteem Medical Supply in Inglewood.
As part of his guilty plea, Okoye agreed not to dispute the revocation of his medical license by the California Medical Board.
— City News Service