Former Georgia insurance commissioner Oxendine indicted | Health/Fitness

A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted John Oxendine on costs of conspiracy to commit well being care fraud and conspiracy to commit cash laundering. He pleaded not responsible throughout an preliminary court docket look Friday, in keeping with on-line court docket information.

“The indictment alleges that Oxendine conspired to acquire kickbacks for pointless genetic and toxicology lab assessments, and used his insurance coverage enterprise to cover these kickbacks,” U.S. Lawyer Ryan Buchanan stated in a information launch. “Sufferers go to their healthcare supplier for therapy with the expectation that their therapy or check is critical, not a rip-off for fraud.”

Prosecutors say Oxendine conspired with Dr. Jeffrey Gallups and others to submit fraudulent insurance coverage claims for medically pointless lab assessments to a lab in Texas. The lab firm, Oxendine and Gallups entered into an settlement for the corporate to pay Gallups a kickback of fifty% of the revenue for specimens submitted by Gallups’ observe for testing, the indictment says. The lab firm paid the kickbacks by means of Oxendine, who stored a part of the cash for himself and in addition used a few of it to pay sure money owed for Gallups, the indictment says.

The lab firm submitted claims for greater than $2.5 million for lab assessments ordered by Gallups’ observe, and insurance coverage firms paid greater than $600,000 to the lab firm for these claims, prosecutors stated. The lab firm then paid $260,000 in kickbacks by means of Oxendine’s insurance coverage enterprise, prosecutors stated. Oxendine then paid a $150,000 charitable contribution and $70,000 in lawyer charges for Gallups, prosecutors stated.

Gallups was charged final yr with well being care fraud and pleaded responsible in October. He is set to be scheduled subsequent month, in keeping with court docket information.

Oxendine’s protection attorneys, Drew Findling and Marissa Goldberg, stated in an emailed assertion that Oxendine “has been focused on this investigation due to his title and gravitas, however to be clear, he has not damaged any legal guidelines and is harmless of this indictment.”

Oxendine served as state insurance coverage commissioner from 1995 to 2011. He ran for governor in 2010 however misplaced the Republican major.

The state ethics fee started investigating and prosecuting marketing campaign finance instances towards him in 2009 and settled the final of these instances earlier this month, The Atlanta Journal-Structure reported.