Wilmette Man Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Medicare

A Wilmette man has plead guilty to charges he defrauded Medicare and the Railroad Retirement Board of nearly $2 million through improper billing.

The United States Attorney for Northern District of Illinois announced the guilty plea of Dike Ajiri, 44 - the chief executive of Chicago-based Mobile Doctors, which closed its north side of Chicago location in 2013 following the arrest of Ajiri. Through his business, Ajiri was accused of fraudulently increasing Medicare bills for in-home treatment that was shorter and less complicated than the claims indicated.

Ajiri - who pleaded guilty Friday to one count of health care fraud - admitted in a plea agreement that he personally altered patient files so that the now-defunct company could fraudulently bill several patient visits to Medicare at the highest possible level.

According to the plea agreement, Ajiri personally altered Mobile Doctors’ billing forms – and instructed Mobile Doctors’ personnel to do the same – so that many of the in-home visits were fraudulently billed to Medicare and the Railroad Retirement Board. In all, Medicare and the Railroad Retirement Board were defrauded out of a total of $1,854,000.

A Mobile Doctors physician, Banio Koroma of south suburban Tinley Park, was also charged.

The plea agreement states Ajiri knew that these visits did not qualify for the maximum payment, and that it was unlawful for him to submit the false claims.

Ajiri faces up to 10 years in prison. He will be sentenced on April 19, 2016 by U.S. District Judge John J. Tharp Jr.