From The Hill: The Justice Department accused two men of stealing $120 million from federal health care programs over the course of a decade by bribing patients to enroll in social adult day cares and submit unneeded prescriptions to a pharmacy.
Inwoo Kim, 42, and Daniel Lee, 56, were charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud. They each face up to 10 years in prison.
“Today’s complaint targets those who prey upon the vulnerable so they can steal from American taxpayers and defraud government programs meant to help the public,” A. Tysen Duva, who leads the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a Monday statement.
Kim owns Happy Life and Royal, two social adult day cares in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens in New York City. Lee worked as the centers’ program director.
A press release on the Justice Department website includes the following details:
According to the complaint, Inwoo Kim, also known as “Tony Kim” and “Long Jin,” 42, of Flushing, owned a pharmacy and two social adult day care centers — Z & W Empire Enterprise Inc. doing business as Royal Adult Daycare (Royal) and Happy Life Inc. (Happy Life). Daniel Lee, also known as “Daniel Yang” and “Donghee Yang,” 56, of Flushing, served as the program director at Happy Life. Between 2016 and 2026, Kim and Yang paid illegal bribes in the form of cash and supermarket gift certificates to Medicaid recipients and Medicare beneficiaries to induce them to fill prescriptions at Kim’s pharmacy.
The defendants also allegedly paid illegal cash kickbacks to Medicaid recipients to induce them to enroll with Kim’s social adult day cares. According to the complaint, Kim discussed the illegal payments by text message, writing to a co-conspirator, “Please give the $10,000 to the Korean members first.” Yang similarly texted about the payments, writing to a co-conspirator, “I gave the payment,” and “I left the envelope [for a patient] with Tony [Kim].”
At times, Kim and Yang allegedly submitted claims for day care services that exceeded Royal and Happy Life’s permitted capacity. To generate the cash needed to pay kickbacks and bribes, Kim and Yang withdrew significant cash from bank accounts they controlled. In total, Medicare and Medicaid paid approximately $120 million for prescription drugs and social adult day care services that were medically unnecessary, not provided, or induced by kickbacks and bribes. Law enforcement executed numerous search warrants and seized several bank accounts in connection with the arrests.
Kim and Yang are both charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud. If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Based on the information provided in the criminal complaint, Kim and Yang (Lee) appear to be Korean, but it is unclear whether or not they are U.S. citizens.
Over the past ten years, the complaint says Medicaid paid Kim’s businesses $62 million for their social day care services while Medicare paid the pharmacy $58 million for prescription drugs.
The Hill points out that the Department of Health and Human Services has been investigating Kim since 2021.
According to court records, Kim made his first court appearance on Friday and was released on a $250,000 bond.
READ MORE from The Hill.
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