Promoter Sentenced For Medicare Fraud

A concert promoter from Texas was sentenced to prison Jan. 30 for bilking Medicare and Medicaid programs out of millions over a three-year period.

Aghaegbuna “Ike” Odelugo was convicted last year of conspiracy to commit health-care fraud, committing health-care fraud and money laundering. Odelugo will serve six years in prison and was ordered to pay nearly $10 million in restitution. He is also ordered to forfeit $7.45 million in illegal gains, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The scam took place through Odelugo’s 14 agreements with durable medical equipment suppliers in Texas and several other states to fraudulently bill Medicare for millions of dollars and split the proceeds from 2005 through 2008.

Items billed to the federal health-care programs were either not delivered, not prescribed by a doctor or not medically necessary, the paper said.