Healthcare Fraud: Samuel Konell Charged in an Indictment For His Alleged Participation in Health Care Fraud Scheme

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Miami-Area Man Charged For Role in $63 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme

<h2>Miami-Area Man Charged For Role in &dollar;63 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>A Miami-area man was charged in an indictment unsealed today for his alleged participation in a &dollar;63 million health care fraud scheme involving a now-defunct community mental health center located in Miami&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Acting U&period;S&period; Attorney Benjamin G&period; Greenberg of the Southern District of Florida&comma; Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A&period; Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division&comma; Special Agent in Charge George L&period; Piro of the FBI’s Miami Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Shimon R&period; Richmond of the U&period;S&period; Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s &lpar;HHS-OIG&rpar; Miami Regional Office made the announcement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><b>Samuel Konell<&sol;b>&comma; 69&comma; of Boca Raton&comma; Florida&comma; was charged in an indictment filed in the Southern District of Florida with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud&comma; one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and receive health care kickbacks&comma; one count of receiving health care kickbacks and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering&period; Konell was arrested this morning and appeared this afternoon before U&period;S&period; Magistrate Judge Patrick A&period; White of the Southern District of Florida&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The indictment alleges that from approximately January 2006 through June 2012&comma; Konell accepted kickbacks in exchange for referring Medicare beneficiaries to Greater Miami Behavioral Healthcare Center&comma; Inc&period; &lpar;Greater Miami&rpar; to serve as patients so that Greater Miami could bill Medicare for mental health treatment purportedly provided to those beneficiaries&period; The indictment further alleges that Konell knew that the beneficiaries he referred to Greater Miami did not need&comma; qualify for nor receive such treatment&period; In addition&comma; the indictment alleges that Konell and co-conspirators took steps to disguise the true nature of the bribes and kickbacks Greater Miami paid to Konell and other patient brokers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the indictment and other court documents&comma; Konell and his co-conspirators caused the submission of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for mental health treatment purportedly provided by Greater Miami in an amount exceeding &dollar;63 million&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<ul>&NewLine;<li>date&comma; 11 individuals have pleaded guilty for their role in the scheme&comma; including the owner of Greater Miami&comma; three administrators and seven patient brokers&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;<p>An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force&comma; supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U&period;S&period; Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida&period; Fraud Section Trial Attorneys Elizabeth Young and Leslie Wright are prosecuting the case&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Since its inception in March 2007&comma; the Medicare Fraud Strike Force&comma; now operating in nine cities across the country&comma; has charged nearly 2&comma;300 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than &dollar;7 billion&period; In addition&comma; the HHS Centers for Medicare &amp&semi; Medicaid Services&comma; working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG&comma; are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span lang&equals;"EN">Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at <&sol;span><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;flsd&period;uscourts&period;gov&sol;"><span lang&equals;"EN"><u>www&period;flsd&period;uscourts&period;gov<&sol;u><&sol;span><&sol;a><span lang&equals;"EN"> or on <&sol;span><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;pacer&period;flsd&period;uscourts&period;gov&sol;"><span lang&equals;"EN"><u>http&colon;&sol;&sol;pacer&period;flsd&period;uscourts&period;gov<&sol;u><&sol;span><&sol;a><span lang&equals;"EN">&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-sdfl&sol;pr&sol;miami-area-man-charged-role-63-million-health-care-fraud-scheme">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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