Long Beach Man Sentenced for $2.6 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

The former owner of a Long Beach medical supply company was sentenced today to 30 months in federal prison and ordered to pay nearly $1.5 million in restitution for his role in a scheme to provide unnecessary power wheelchairs to Medicare patients.

Akinola Afolabi, the ex-owner and president of Emmanuel Medical Supply, admitted providing medically unneeded power wheelchairs and other medical equipment to Medicare beneficiaries and submitting fraudulent claims to Medicare.

Afolabi, 55, paid “marketers” to obtain Medicare beneficiary information that he used on the false claims, according to his 2013 plea agreement.

He also acknowledged that prescriptions for the equipment and related medical documents were fraudulent, and that some of the beneficiaries did not receive the wheelchairs or other medical supplies that were the subject of bills submitted to Medicare.

From June 2006 through September 2009, Afolabi submitted about $2.6 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for power wheelchairs and related services, and Medicare paid nearly $1.5 on those claims, according to the government.

--City News Service

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