Owner of Houston Health Care Company Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison in Connection with Medicare Fraud Scheme

WASHINGTON—An owner and operator of a Houston durable medical equipment (DME) company was sentenced today in Houston federal court to 30 months in prison for his role in a Medicare fraud scheme, announced the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Akinsunbo Akinbile, 44, of Richmond, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison in Houston. In addition to his prison term, Akinbile was sentenced to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $471,022 in restitution.

Akinbile pleaded guilty on November 29, 2011 to eight counts of health care fraud.

According to court documents, Akinbile was the owner and operator of Hallco Medical Supply, a company that purported to provide orthotics and other DME to Medicare beneficiaries. According to court documents, Hallco submitted claims to Medicare for DME, including orthotic devices that were medically unnecessary and/or not provided. Many of the orthotic devices were components of an “arthritis kit,” and purported to be for the treatment of arthritis-related conditions. The arthritis kit generally contained a number of orthotic devices including braces for both sides of the body and related accessories such as heating pads. From June 2007 through May 2009, Akinbile submitted claims of approximately $737,770 to Medicare and was paid approximately $471,022.

Today’s sentence was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas; Special Agent in Charge Stephen L. Morris of the FBI’s Houston Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Mike Fields of the Dallas Regional Office of HHS’s Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigations; Joseph J. Del Favero, special agent in charge of the Chicago Field Office of the Railroad Retirement Board Office of Inspector General; and the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU).

This case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin S. Blan and Trial Attorney Laura M.K. Cordova of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The case was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas and the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

Since their inception in March 2007, Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,190 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $3.6 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.