Two Orlando Men Sentenced in VA Health Care Kickback Conspiracy

Two Orlando, Florida, men were sentenced Thursday for their roles in a conspiracy to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks involving veterans' care, the Justice Department said.

Laurent Cassagnol, 43, was sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to forfeit $175,172. Heriberto Rivera, 43, was sentenced to 13 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $515,542. The department said the forfeiture amounts were the proceeds the defendants obtained from the offense.

According to court documents cited by the department, Rivera, the CEO of Family Integrative Medicine of Orlando, LLC, paid kickbacks and bribes to Cassagnol, an Advanced Medical Support Assistant for the VA Community Care Program. In exchange, Cassagnol used his VA position to steer veterans and their families who were patients of the program to Rivera's clinic for acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments and other holistic medical services.

The department said that as a result of the kickbacks, more than $14 million in fraudulent claims were submitted to the VA and the community care program, and more than $11 million of that was paid.

The investigation began with a complaint to the VA Office of the Inspector General's fraud hotline, according to the department. The FBI and the VA Office of the Inspector General investigated the case. Trial attorneys from the Fraud Division's Health Care Fraud Section are prosecuting it.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/808