In July 2016, the federal government indicted Philip Esformes, owner and operator of the Esformes Network, including nursing facilities in Florida. He and two others have been criminally charged in a one-billion-dollar Medicare fraud and money laundering scheme. It was the largest criminal health care fraud case ever brought by the Department of Justice against individuals. Following a two-month trial in 2019, Esformes was convicted of multiple counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, paying and receiving kickbacks, money laundering, bribery, and obstruction of justice. Former President Trump commuted Esformes’ 20-year term of imprisonment to time served on December 22, 2020. However, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has now affirmed the District Court’s judgment, including Esformes’s convictions, restitution award ($5.5 million) and forfeiture judgment ($38.7 million).
January 12, 2023 – T. Edelman