Two former top executives of a Gainesville nursing home management company, The Council on Aging of Florida, admitted to Defrauding Medicaid of more than $2.75 million dollars. Not only were they stealing from the government, they were living a lavish lifestyle, rather that using the funds to care for residents of their nursing homes. Their theft included paying a family member a salary of $1.8 million of a span of 6 years. The pair misused the money on paying of mortgages, buying lavish vehicles, travel expenses, and other personal costs.
The fines for such theft were only $50,000 per person and banning them from being involved with any facility receiving funds from either Medicare or Medicaid. The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit director, James Varnado released a statement about the result of the case saying, “I strongly believe the sentence is in the best interest of the State, the victims and I will prohibit the two defendants from further unjust enrichment from the taxpayers and hopefully will deter others from similar schemes.” The restitution is well above the maximum $10,000 fine that they each could have faced if they were convicted at trial. By accepting a plea deal, the two also avoided a possible lengthy prison sentence. There are still active civil and negligence lawsuit against them, which can hopefully bring more justice for the many people affected. Ironically, Florida is the very same state that recently passed laws to protect INVESTORS of nursing homes.
If you suspect that you or someone you love has suffered an adverse event from improper care at a nursing home or skilled nursing facility, don’t wait to take action. You have rights; there is no reason to tolerate such despicable behavior. Call an attorney today.
Attorney Sean McDonough has been a partner with Dougherty, Leventhal and Price for over twenty years. He specializes in personal injury cases, emphasizing, nursing home abuse cases. His experience with nursing home abuse cases provided him the opportunity to present expert witness testimony in a Congressional Hearing addressing the issue of sexual abuse in nursing homes in 2008. Allow Attorney McDonough to be a part of the solution. Don’t wait any longer call DLP today and schedule your meeting with Sean McDonough.
All information was gathered from the article tilted Nursing Home Executives Steal $2.75 Million Dollars from Medicaid. For more information please view the article at http://nj-nursinghomeneglect.com/blog/nursing-home-executives-steal-275-million-dollars-from-medicaid
