Feds wrap up healthcare fraud case with Pinellas ties
A five-year federal fraud investigation that involved millions of dollars in claims to U.S. military healthcare insurer TRICARE has concluded with guilty pleas from the owners of a Pasco County marketing firm. Frank Monte and Kimberley Anderson, owners of Centurion Compounding Inc., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pay healthcare kickbacks and each agreed to forfeit $1.7 million in assets, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida. They were accused of conspiring with the owners of LifeCare Pharmacy in Pinellas County and a Pinellas physician in the scheme. As a result of this investigation, $58 million in TRICARE claims were repaid or reversed and an additional $6 million was repaid to TRICARE by the conspirators, prosecutors said.
