Inmate Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for Threats to Obama, Lynch

     TUCSON, Ariz. – Today, Roger Dale Godwin, 40, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Raner Collins to 48 months in the Bureau of Prisons followed by three years of supervised release.  Godwin had previously pleaded guilty to making threats against the President and mailing threatening communications.

     On June 1, 2016, while an inmate in the U.S. Penitentiary in Tucson, Ariz., Godwin placed into the outgoing prison mail several letters that were addressed to then-President Barak Obama and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch.  In those letters Godwin threatened to injure or kill Mr. Obama and Ms. Lynch, along with a Bureau of Prisons employee.  Godwin must serve his four years consecutive to a 2014 sentence he is separately serving for mailing threats to judges and law enforcement while an inmate in the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.

     The investigation in this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution was handled by Micah Schmit, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, District of Arizona, Tucson.

Solon man sentenced to 30 months in prison for his role in conspiracy to defraud the Cleveland Clinic out of $2.7 million

A Solon man was sentenced to 30 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to defraud the Cleveland Clinic out of more than $2.7 million.

Gary Fingerhut, 58, was ordered to pay $2,784,847 in restitution. He previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud and one count of making false statements.

According to court documents filed in the case:

Fingerhut worked at Cleveland Clinic Innovations, which assisted doctors and other Clinic personnel with inventing medical products and marketing those products, typically through the formation of a spin-off company. Fingerhut was hired as general manager of information technologies in 2010 and became executive director in 2013. The Clinic terminated his employment in June 2015.

In 2012, the Cleveland Clinic Innovations formed a subsidiary company known as Interactive Visual Health Records (IVHR), to develop a visual medical charting concept of certain Clinic physicians into a functioning, marketable product. Fingerhut hired Wisam Rizk to work as a consultant and then chief technology officer at IVHR to develop the product.

Fingerhut and Rizk, as a condition of their employment, were prohibited from receiving any financial benefit or having any personal or familial financial interests in companies the Clinic did business with, unless they were expressly disclosed to, and approved by, the Clinic. Fingerhut underwent formal training on the Clinic’s ethics and compliance polices and requirements.

Rizk and others caused to be incorporated a shell company known as iStarFZE LLC (ISTAR) that did not actually perform or provide any goods or services. It was established in the name of a nominee owner. Rizk caused ISTAR to establish a web site and email addresses and a mailing address in New York City.

Rizk caused ISTAR to submit a bid to the Clinic to develop and design IVHR’s software and to increase the price the Clinic paid for the software design and development, all without disclosing his financial interest in ISTAR.

Rizk periodically paid Fingerhut a “referral” or “commission” fee in return for Fingerhut not disclosing the fraud scheme.

Fingerhut accepted nearly $469,000 in these payments from Rizk between August 2012 and November 2014. During that time, Fingerhut, Rizk. and others diverted more than $2.7 million from the Clinic.

Rizk pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy and is awaiting sentencing.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Chelsea S. Rice and Rebecca Lutzko following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Palm Beach Sales Representative Sentenced to Prison for Money Laundering Scheme Involving Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment Centers and Clinical Laboratories

A top sales representative was sentenced to prison today for his participation in a money laundering conspiracy involving alcohol and drug addiction treatment centers and clinical laboratories.

Ariana Fajardo Orshan, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; Michael J. De Palma, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI); Jimmy Patronis, Florida Chief Financial Officer; Michael J. Waters, Special Agent in Charge, Amtrak Office of Inspector General (Amtrak OIG); Isabel Colon, Regional Director, U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (DOL-EBSA); Dennis Russo, Director of Operations, National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB); and John F. Khin, Special Agent in Charge, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) made the announcement.

Lanny Fried, 41, of Miami Beach, previously pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.  U.S. District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg sentenced Fried to 57 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release.  He was also ordered to pay a $81,163.17 fine.

According to court documents, Smart Lab LLC of Palm Beach Gardens was established by Chief Executive Officer H. Hamilton Wayne, a/k/a “Hawkeye,” and Chief Operating Officer Justin Morgan Wayne, to perform confirmatory urinalysis testing. Smart Lab, H. Wayne and J. Wayne established bank accounts to receive proceeds of insurance claims for medically unnecessary urinalysis testing and to pay kickbacks and bribes to individuals and entities that referred urine samples to Smart Lab for testing.

Fried, a top Smart Lab sales representative, had an agreement with Smart Lab to receive commissions of approximately 50% of the insurance reimbursements for the substance abuse treatment facilities he referred to Smart Lab.  These payments were classified as commissions when in reality they were kickbacks for the referral of excessive, medically unnecessary, fraudulent and duplicative confirmatory drug testing.  Fried served as the sales representative for Smart Lab’s largest account, Reflections Treatment Center in Margate, Florida.  Fried used a portion of these commissions to pay Reflections’ owner, Kenneth Chatman, illegal cash kickbacks to induce him to continue referring urine samples to Smart Lab.  Using Fried as a “middleman” for the payments to Chatman disguised the true ownership and purpose of the funds.  From 2005 through 2017, Smart Lab paid Fried over $600,000.  These payments came from proceeds of health care fraud.

Fried also recruited friends and business associates to engage in similar activity.  These individuals signed employment agreements with Smart Lab that purported to make them “sales representatives”.  These agreements were used to make it appear that monies paid to Fried and others were for services rendered.  The employment contracts were created to hide the true purpose and recipient of the payments. Fried and the others involved did not perform any actual services for Smart Lab and they were paid “commissions” from the proceeds of health care fraud.  These funds were then disbursed to others, per Fried’s instructions.

H. Hamilton, J. Wayne and Smart Lab previously pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.  U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks sentenced H. Wayne to 63 months in prison, J. Wayne to 46 months in prison, and the corporation to 3 years of probation.  The three defendants were jointly and severally ordered to pay $2,897,389.50 in restitution to the victims of their offenses.  H. Wayne was separately ordered to pay $954,344 to the TRICARE program for his involvement in fraud at RX to You, along with a $50,000 fine.  J. Wayne was separately ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.

U.S. Attorney Fajardo Orshan commended the investigative efforts of the Greater Palm Beach Health Care Fraud Task Force. Agencies of the task force include the FBI, IRS-CI, Florida Division of Investigative and Forensic Services, Amtrak OIG, DOL-EBSA, NICB and DCIS.  These and related cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys A. Marie Villafaña and Alexandra Chase.