NEW YORK — The US Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey said Tuesday that a Utah man has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a fraudulent genetic cancer testing scheme.
According to court documents and statements, Jordan Bunnell and others owned and operated a marketing call center, a clinical laboratory, and a telemedicine company and paid bribes and kickbacks to various parties in exchange for referrals and orders for medically unnecessary genetic cancer screening tests for Medicare beneficiaries and others.
Between October 2018 and July 2019, Bunnell and his conspirators defrauded Medicare and other federal and private health benefit programs of roughly $89 million, the DOJ said.
Bunnell pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiring to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, and conspiring to defraud the US in connection with a scheme to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute.
The charge of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison; the charge of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison; and the charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison. All three charges are also punishable by a maximum fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greater.