Mark Morad, the man who cooked up a $56 million Medicare fraud scheme, and his accomplice doctor pled guilty yesterday in federal court in Louisiana to various health care fraud charges.

According to a September 2014, indictment Mr. Morad directed a massive Medicare fraud scheme through multiple companies he owned in the New Orleans area, including Interlink Health Care Services Inc., Memorial Home Health Inc., Lakeland Health Care Services Inc., Lexmark Health Care LLC, and Med Rite Pharmacy Inc.  The companies, which Morad controlled completely, claimed to provide home health services and durable medical equipment (DME) to Medicare beneficiaries.

Morad paid kickbacks to patient recruiters who provided Medicare beneficiary numbers that were then used to bill Medicare.  To conceal the kickbacks, Morad laundered Medicare money through a separate company he owned.

The physician, Dr. Divini Luccioni, signed home health referrals and wrote prescriptions for power scooters and other DME to support the fraudulent billings, though the majority of these services and equipment were not medically necessary or not provided.  From 2007 through 2014, the companies involved in the scheme submitted more than $56 million in claims to Medicare, most of which were fraudulent.  Medicare paid approximately $50.7 million on those claims.

Sentencing will take place on April 1, 2015.