Trial of Florida health care executive $1B fraud nears end
Source: AP
The federal trial of a Florida health care executive wrapped up on Friday with closing statements from the prosecution calling the defendant a trickster who couldn’t help himself and his defense arguing he was an ambitious and caring businessman.
Philip Esformes, 50, faces decades in prison if convicted of defrauding Medicare of $1 billion in one of the biggest such cases in U.S. history.
Prosecutors said the Miami Beach businessman was the mastermind in a scheme that would pay bribes and kickbacks to doctors so they would refer patients to his network of nursing homes. They also say Esformes and his co-conspirators paid bribes to a health care regulator in return for tips about when inspectors planned surprise visits to his facilities and when patients made complaints.
Esformes’ attorney, Roy Black, told jurors his client never paid kickbacks to doctors so they would refer patients to his nursing and assisted living facilities. The defense also said Esformes’ management style was “obsessive,” saying he wanted his facilities to always be ready for a government inspection.
Read more: https://apnews.com/d15d6b5e155d4915a216d2e730da0858
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