Frederick Gooding, a physician of Wilmington, Delaware, was charged in an indictment with 11 counts of health care fraud following an investigation into his participation in a $12.7 million scheme that sought to defraud Medicare.
According to the Department of Justice, Gooding submitted claims to Medicare for injections and aspirations that had either never been received or had no necessary medical purpose. Gooding continued this scheme from January 2015 to August 2018, stealing a total of $12.7 million during that time. To cover-up the health care fraud scheme, Gooding allegedly falsified numerous medical documents to show that the prescriptions and services he billed Medicare for were medically necessary.
Gooding was arrested for these allegations on August 1st, 2019, and the indictment was announced on August 2nd, 2019 by Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu of the District of Columbia, Acting Assistant Director in Charge John P. Selleck of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Maureen Dixon of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Philadelphia Regional Office and District of Columbia’s Inspector General Daniel W. Lucas.
The health care fraud scheme was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the HHS-OIG and the D.C. Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The case is being prosecuted by Attorney Scott Armstrong of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, which represents a joint initiative between the Department of Justice and HHS to prevent fraud and enforce anti-fraud laws called the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. Since its inception, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force has charged nearly 4,000 defendants responsible for billing Medicare a combined total of $14 billion.
