Florida businessman convicted of $1BILLION Medicare fraud spent NYE dancing at his daughter s wedding days after Trump commuted his 20-year prison sentence citing his declining health
Philip Esformes was among the slew of convicts pardoned by President Trump in the final days of his presidency
Esformes, 51, was convicted on 20 criminal counts in a $1billion Medicare fraud scheme in 2019
The healthcare executive was sentenced to 20 years in prison but only served 4
White House claimed the move had been supported by a number of former attorneys general and said Esformes is in declining health
Just days after his release, Esformes spent New Year s Eve dancing at his daughter Serena s wedding held in his backyard
Health care executives behind massive frauds among those to receive pardons from President Trump
Updated Jan 22, 2021;
By Fred Schulte | Kaiser Health News
At the last minute, President Donald Trump granted pardons to several individuals convicted in huge Medicare swindles that prosecutors alleged often harmed or endangered elderly and infirm patients while fleecing taxpayers.
“These aren’t just technical financial crimes. These were major, major crimes,” said Louis Saccoccio, chief executive officer of the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, an advocacy group.
The list of some 200 Trump pardons or commutations, most issued as he vacated the White House this week, included at least seven doctors or health care entrepreneurs who ran discredited health care enterprises, from nursing homes to pain clinics. One is a former doctor and California hospital owner embroiled in a massive workers’ compensation kickback scheme that prosecutors alleged prompted more than 14
President Donald Trump pardoned several health executives charged in big fraud schemes. (studiocasper/iStock)
At the last minute, President Donald Trump granted pardons to several individuals convicted in huge Medicare swindles that prosecutors alleged often harmed or endangered elderly and infirm patients while fleecing taxpayers.
“These aren’t just technical financial crimes. These were major, major crimes,” said Louis Saccoccio, CEO of the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, an advocacy group.
The list of some 200 Trump pardons or commutations, most issued as he vacated the White House this week, included at least seven doctors or health care entrepreneurs who ran discredited health care enterprises, from nursing homes to pain clinics.
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Dr. Faustino Bernadett owned Pacific Hospital in Long Beach from 2005 to 2010, and while he originally wasn’t involved in day-to-day operations he learned by 2008 that one of the doctors at the hospital, Michael D. Drobot, had been paying illegal kickbacks to medical workers who would steer certain spinal surgery patients to Pacific Hospital, according to court documents.
Over the course of the scam, the conspirators used $30 million in sham contracts to compensate doctors, chiropractors and others who referred certain spinal surgery patients to Pacific Hospital, which ultimately submitted $900 million in fraudulent billing that was mostly paid for by California’s worker compensation system, according to federal prosecutors.
Albert Pirro had been among those expected to be on the list issued in the early hours of Wednesday morning. But when he was not, his ex-wife lobbied Trump directly.