Dallas jury finds Dr. Joseph Megwa guilty of $3M Medicare fraud conspiracy
Arlington physician Dr. Joseph Megwa was found guilty late Monday for his part in a $3 million Medicare fraud conspiracy involving PTM Healthcare Services, an Irving home health care agency. Ferguson Ikhile, PTM’s owner, and Ebolose Eghobor, PTM’s nursing director, were found guilty as well.
A Dallas jury deliberated for three days before finding Megwa guilty of conspiracy, three counts of health care fraud and four counts of making false statements. Megwa and Eghobor were scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade on Sept. 10. Megwa could face 60 years in prison.
Megwa, Ikhile and Eghobor, all Nigerian-Americans, were arrested in October 2012. The indictment charged Megwa with fraudulently billing Medicare more than $100 million for unnecessary or ineligible home health care services rendered to 2,000 area patients.
More than 230 home health agencies were involved with Megwa, but PTM’s Ikhile and Eghobor were the only others indicted in the case. Ikhile, who pleaded guilty, was scheduled for sentencing on May 28.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently ordered a moratorium on licensing new home health care agencies in Dallas because of fraud concerns
http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2014/05/dallas-jury-finds-dr-joseph-megwa-guilty-of-health-care-fraud.html/
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