Amtrak OIG supported investigation leads to guilty plea, sentencing in Florida health care fraud case

Dec. 19, 2018
For Immediate Release

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A sales representative was sentenced to prison and ordered to pay more than $81,000 in fines Dec. 19, 2018, for his participation in a money laundering conspiracy involving alcohol and drug addiction treatment centers and clinical laboratories.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida, Lanny Fried, 41, of Miami Beach, previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. U.S. District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg sentenced Fried to 57 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. Additionally, Fried was ordered to pay a $81,163.17 fine.

Fried would receive commissions from Smart Lab LLC of approximately 50 percent of insurance reimbursements for the substance abuse treatment facilities he referred to Smart Lab. In reality, the commissions were kickbacks for the referral of excessive, medically unnecessary, fraudulent and duplicative confirmatory drug testing. Through an agreement with Smart Lab, Fried would use a portion of the commissions to pay kickbacks to the owner of Reflections Treatment Center, Smart Lab’s largest account, to induce the owner to continue referring urine samples to Smart Lab. From 2005 through 2017, Smart Lab paid Fried more than $600,000.

The Amtrak Office of Inspector General is supporting the FBI-led Greater Palm Beach Health Care Fraud Task Force in its ongoing investigation into a series of complex insurance fraud schemes in Florida. Amtrak OIG investigators were invited to be part of the task force in 2014 after Amtrak insurance providers received fraudulent charges from substance abuse treatment centers and facilities known as “sober homes” in the area. The Task Force is comprised of more than 10 organizations including federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

-###-
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida, press release: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/palm-beach-sales-representative-se…