Suburban Chicago Chiropractor Charged With Fraudulently Billing for Nonexistent Services

CHICAGO — A suburban Chicago chiropractor has been indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly billing a private insurer for nonexistent services.

SEUNG HAN LIM owned and operated Movement Health and Rehab, also known as Motu Chiropractic and Motu Chiromassage, in Libertyville, Ill.  From 2016 to 2019, Lim submitted fraudulent claims to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois for purported health care services that Lim knew were not actually provided, according to an indictment unsealed today in U.S. District Court in Chicago.  Some of the fraudulent claims were for services purportedly provided on dates when either Lim or the patient were not in Illinois, the indictment states.  Other claims submitted by Lim were for services purportedly rendered by another chiropractor to Lim and Lim’s family members, even though Lim knew that those services were not actually provided by the other chiropractor and that BCBS would have denied the claims had Lim been identified as the rendering provider because the insurer prohibited claims from providers for services rendered to the provider or their immediate family members, the indictment states.

When BCBS attempted to audit Lim’s claims, he prepared false patient medical records and other documents and submitted them to BCBS, the indictment states.

As a result of the scheme, Lim and his clinic fraudulently obtained at least $430,000 from BCBS, the indictment states.

The indictment charges Lim, 40, of Lincolnshire, Ill., with 14 counts of health care fraud.  Each count is punishable by up to ten years in federal prison.  Lim was scheduled to make an initial court appearance this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel A. Fuentes.

The indictment was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Robert W. “Wes” Wheeler, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI, and Irene Lindow, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Great Lakes Region of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Inspector General.  The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paige Nutini and Jasmina Vajzovic.

The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt.  The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.  If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.