Healthcare Fraud: Eduardo Arango Chong Charged With One Count of Conspiracy To Commit Health Care Fraud

<h2>Miami-Dade County&comma; Florida&comma; Man Charged With Conspiracy To Commit Health Care Fraud<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Established Fictitious Health Services Centers in Elizabeth&comma; New Jersey&comma; and Billed Insurance Companies for Services That Were Not Performed<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>NEWARK&comma; N&period;J&period; – A Florida man has been charged in connection with his role in establishing fake medical facilities in New Jersey and billing insurance companies for services that were never performed&comma; U&period;S&period; Attorney Paul J&period; Fishman announced&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Eduardo Arango Chong&comma; 21&comma; of Hialeah&comma; Florida&comma; was arrested Nov&period; 15&comma; 2016&comma; and will appear today before U&period;S&period; Magistrate Judge Cathy L&period; Waldor in Newark federal court&period; He was charged by complaint&comma; along with Osmaro Ruiz&comma; 31&comma; of Homestead&comma; Florida&comma; with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud&period; Ruiz remains at large&period; Another conspirator&comma; Raymel Betancourt&comma; 25&comma; was charged with healthcare fraud in a separate complaint in June 2015&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the complaint&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>From September 2014 through June 26&comma; 2015&comma; the defendants allegedly established fictitious health service providers in Union County&comma; New Jersey&comma; and elsewhere&period; These &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;phantom providers” repeatedly submitted false claims to insurance companies for medical services&comma; including injections and physical therapy services&comma; that were never actually performed&period; They allegedly submitted claims for more than &dollar;6 million and the insurance companies paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to the phantom providers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The defendants allegedly recruited people with legitimate health insurance policies from real companies&comma; offering them money in exchange for allowing the phantom providers to use this information&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The fake providers also used health insurance information for individuals who were not aware that fraudulent claims were being submitted on their behalf&period; The conspirators logged on to an electronic healthcare network used by medical practices to check patient insurance coverage&period; They used valid member IDs and then entered a series of consecutive potential member IDs until one of the numbers was linked to someone with a valid health insurance plan and accepted by the network&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Checks and proceeds issued by the insurance companies were cashed or deposited into bank accounts established by the conspirators&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The counts of conspiracy to commit health care fraud with which the defendants are charged carry a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a &dollar;250&comma;000 fine&comma; or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>U&period;S&period; Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the U&period;S&period; Postal Inspection Service&comma; under the direction of Inspector in Charge Maria L&period; Kelokates&comma; and special agents of the FBI&comma; under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher&comma; with the investigation leading to the charges&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The government is represented by Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorney Karen D&period; Stringer of the Criminal Division&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>U&period;S&period; Attorney Fishman reorganized the health care fraud practice at the New Jersey U&period;S&period; Attorney’s Office shortly after taking office&comma; including creating a stand-alone Health Care and Government Fraud Unit to handle both criminal and civil investigations and prosecutions of health care fraud offenses&period; Since 2010&comma; the office has recovered more than &dollar;1&period;29 billion in health care fraud and government fraud settlements&comma; judgments&comma; fines&comma; restitution and forfeiture under the False Claims Act&comma; the Food&comma; Drug&comma; and Cosmetic Act and other statutes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The charges and allegations in the complaint are merely accusations&comma; and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-nj&sol;pr&sol;miami-dade-county-florida-man-charged-conspiracy-commit-health-care-fraud">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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