The former owner of a Texas ambulance company got a 30-year sentence for trying to steal $1.3 million from Medicare and Medicaid by charging mentally handicapped people for ambulance trips that never happened.
Texas federal court convicted Chimaroke Echenwune, who ran Diamex EMS with his wife and 13 employees, of organized crime and defrauding the Medicare and Medicaid network through false statements.
Two former employees testified that Echenwune instructed them to create false records, and a doctor said his signature looked forged on some of the ambulance company’s insurance forms, the Houston Chronicle reports. Diamex would sometimes bill two or three times the amount the trip actually cost.
Patient caregivers testified during the trial that some of the trips Diamex billed to Medicare did not happen.
Diamex billed Medicare for trips to places like daycare facilities, which are not covered under the federal insurance program.
Echenwune was fined $10,000 in addition to his 30-year prison sentence; his lawyers said they will appeal the verdict.
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