Are You With Me, Dr. Fu? Not So Much

Xinming
Fu, a 48-year-old Irvine physician, has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison for his role in a $15 million health care fraud scheme that plied the elderly and mentally ill with candy, doughnuts and
cigarettes to get them to undergo unnecessary respiratory treatments that were billed to Medicare.

Fu, who was also ordered Monday afternoon to pay $390,000 in restitution, was one of six medical doctors and 17 defendants total convicted in U.S.
District Judge James V. Selna's courtroom as part of the case that took six years to litigate. Fu was one of five who either lived or practiced in Orange County.

A breakdown of the case, the scheme and the defendants follows after the jump . . .
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For Immediate Release
May 26, 2010
United States Attorney's Office
Central District of California

Seventeenth Defendant Sentenced in $15 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme Targeting Elderly, Mentally Ill

Concluding six years of litigation, the 17th and final
defendant convicted in relation to a $15 million health care fraud
scheme that targeted the mentally ill and elderly was sentenced earlier
this week to 30 months in federal prison.

Xinming
Fu, 48, an Irvine physician, was sentenced Monday afternoon after
previously pleading guilty to conspiracy to pay kickbacks and health
care fraud, admitting that he was part of a scheme that bilked Medicare
out of $15 million for respiratory treatments that were unnecessary,
not performed in accordance with Medicare rules, or not performed at
all. Fu, who was one of six medical doctors convicted in the scheme,
was also ordered to pay $390,000 in restitution by United States
District Judge James V. Selna.

The
17 defendants were named in a criminal information and three
indictments returned by federal grand juries as far back as 2004. Three
of the cases involved a scheme in which the owner of a respiratory
treatment program, Herman Thomas, recruited Medicare patients who were
housed at board-and-care facilities throughout Southern California.

As
part of the scheme, which operated from 2000 through 2006, Thomas and
doctors that he recruited paid illegal kickbacks to marketers, who in
turn paid illegal kickbacks to the owners and administrators of the
board-and-care facilities, who provided access to mentally ill and
elderly residents.

On a monthly basis, the doctors ordered respiratory
treatments, which typically were unnecessary and were performed by
respiratory therapists on a daily or almost daily basis without any
physician supervision, in violation of Medicare rules requiring that a
physician be on-site when respiratory treatments are performed.

The
respiratory treatments also violated Medicare rules because the
treatments should have been performed at a doctor's office or in a
mobile medical unit, instead of at the board-and-care facilities, where
treatments were often performed in the facilities' smoking rooms.

The
mentally ill and elderly residents of the board-and-care facilities
were enticed to undergo the respiratory treatments with soda, candy,
donuts and even cigarettes. Sometimes residents were not present at the
board-and-care facilities because they were off-site receiving
treatment at local hospitals, but Medicare was billed for respiratory
treatments anyway.

The fourth case in this investigation arose from a
respiratory therapist/marketer who previously worked for Thomas and
recruited a doctor to run a separate, but similar respiratory program.

The defendants previously sentenced as a result of this investigation were:

1. Dr. Aziz Awad, 47, formerly of Anaheim and Pasadena, was
   sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay $2,625,722 in
   restitution;
2. Herman
   Thomas, 51, of Bellflower, who was convicted at trial with Awad, was
   sentenced to 88 months imprisonment and ordered to pay $2,625,722 in
   restitution;
3. Dr. Paul Arnold Lessler, 71, of West Hills, was
   sentenced to two years in custody and ordered to pay nearly $1.1
   million in restitution after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit
   health care fraud and health care fraud;
4. Dr. Gershon Walter
   Hepner, 72, of Los Angeles, was sentenced to 30 months in custody and
   ordered to pay $422,400 in restitution after pleading guilty to
   conspiracy to commit health care fraud and pay kickbacks, and health
   care fraud;
5. Dr. Aginah M. DeBerry, 57, of Rancho Cucamonga,
   was sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to pay $707,800 in
   restitution after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit health care
   fraud and pay kickbacks;
6. Glen Garcia Madrid, 46, of Yorba
   Linda, a marketer, was sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to
   pay $1,566,977 in restitution after pleading guilty to conspiracy to
   pay kickbacks and health care fraud;
7. Levi Raitchik, 49, of
   Los Angeles, a marketer, was sentenced to eight months in custody and
   ordered to pay $395,100 in restitution after pleading guilty to
   conspiracy to pay kickbacks and health care fraud;
8. Schmuel
   B. Fogelman, 49, of Los Angeles, a marketer, was sentenced to one year
   in custody and ordered to pay $693,000 in restitution after pleading
   guilty to conspiracy to pay kickbacks and health care fraud;
9. Barbara
   Sue Thrash, 60, of Corona, a board-and-care administrator, was
   sentenced to 15 months in custody and ordered to pay $495,019.05 in
   restitution after pleading guilty to conspiracy to receive kickbacks
   and health care fraud;
10. Teresita Cagudala Bolong, 62, of
    Rancho Palos Verdes, a board-and-care owner and administrator, was
    sentenced to six months in prison, ordered to pay a $17,000 fine, and
    ordered to pay $108,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to
    receiving kickbacks;
11. Dr. David Todd Asher, 42, of Fullerton,
    was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay $6,850 in restitution
    after pleading guilty to conspiracy to pay kickbacks;
12. Emilita
    Nunez Canenea, 50, of San Dimas, a board-and-care owner and
    administrator, was sentenced to probation, ordered to pay a $20,000
    fine, and ordered to pay $18,000 in restitution after pleading guilty
    to receiving kickbacks;
13. Shahnaz Chadorbaf-Arastoo, 54, of
    Irvine, a board-and-care owner and administrator, was sentenced to
    probation, ordered to pay a $5,000 fine, and ordered to pay $4,000 in
    restitution after pleading guilty to receiving kickbacks;
14. Magdalena
    Gonzales, 57, of Denver, a board-and-care administrator, was sentenced
    to probation and ordered to pay $9,500 in restitution after pleading
    guilty to aiding and abetting a false claim
15. Hamid Rafizadeh,
    54, of Escondido, a board-and-care administrator, was sentenced to
    probation, ordered to pay a $5,000 fine, and ordered to pay $8,500 in
    restitution after pleading guilty to receiving kickbacks; and
16. Alexander
    Tanciano Tagaro, 62, of Perris, a board-and-care administrator, was
    sentenced to probation and ordered to pay $7,500 in restitution after
    pleading guilty to receiving kickbacks.

These cases were the
product of a joint investigation by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and
IRS-Criminal Investigation.