Physical Therapist Arrested on Health Care Fraud Charges
| U.S. Attorney’s Office February 24, 2014 |
Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Danielle Faux, 46, of Weston, was arrested today on federal health care fraud charges. On February 19, 2014, a federal grand jury sitting in Bridgeport returned an indictment charging Faux with 46 counts of health care fraud and one count of obstruction of a federal audit.
According to the indictment, Faux owned and operated Danielle Faux PT LLC, a physical therapy clinic located at 27 Lois Street in Norwalk and was a part owner of Achieve Rehab and Fitness, a gym located at the same address in Norwalk. The indictment alleges that Faux engaged in a scheme to defraud Medicare and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield by referring some of her patients for personal training sessions at Achieve Rehab and Fitness and then billing the sessions as if they were physical therapy procedures. The indictment also alleges that Faux created and altered patient records when Medicare audited her practice in August 2009.
Faux appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge William I. Garfinkel in Bridgeport and entered a plea of not guilty. She was released on a $50,000 bond.
If convicted, Faux faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000 on each of the health care fraud counts and a maximum term of imprisonment of five years and a fine of $250,000 on the obstruction count.
The case has been assigned to Senior U.S. District Judge Warren W. Eginton in Bridgeport.
U.S. Attorney Daly stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. Sheldon and health care auditor Kevin Saunders.