Florida CEO and VA employee plead guilty in alleged health care kickback scheme
Report date: (original source date). Article publication date: .
Report an error or privacy concernSummary
The DOJ said Laurent Cassagnol, a VA Community Care Program employee, and Heriberto Rivera, CEO of Family Integrative Medicine of Orlando, LLC, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks and bribes. According to court documents, Rivera admitted paying Cassagnol to steer VA patients to FIMO, while Cassagnol admitted accepting the payments.
The DOJ said the scheme led to more than $14 million in claims, of which over $11 million was paid. Sentencing is scheduled for November 5; each defendant faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, but no sentence has yet been imposed.
The case highlights the need for controls over employee conflicts, patient referrals and interactions with public-sector health programme personnel. Independent monitoring and reporting channels can help detect suspected referral-for-payment arrangements.