FBI Most Wanted Fraudsters

The FBI has introduced a "Most Wanted Fraudster" program which adopts the wanted posters and priority numbering of their long standing "Most Wanted Criminal" program.  Two of the top 8 fraudsters disclosed today were healthcare fraudsters.  One bilked Medicare out of $ 1.2 billion!!!:

1.  Said Abdullahi Ereg, a Somali wanted for a $ 4.2 million fraud scheme that exploited the Federal Child Nutrition Program during the COVID-19 pandemic.  This was one of the Minnesota "Feeding Our Future" scams:

Ereg ran a grocery and deli in south Minneapolis, Minnesota, which was enrolled in the Program under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future. Between April of 2020 and April of 2021, the grocery and deli fraudulently claimed to have served over 1.4 million meals to children and received more than $4.2 million in payments from Feeding Our Future for purportedly serving meals. Ereg allegedly transferred most of the money to fund his family's lavish lifestyle. He also allegedly transferred money to foreign accounts controlled by foreign companies. A federal arrest warrant was issued for Ereg on January 24, 2024, in the United States District Court, District of Minnesota, Minneapolis Minnesota, after he was charged with Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, Wire Fraud, and Money Laundering.

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $150,000 for information leading to the arrest and capture of Said Abdullahi Ereg.

2. Herbert Leon Kimble pled guilty to Conspiracy to Defraud the United States, to Make a False Claim to a Department of the United States, to Commit Mail Fraud, to Commit Wire Fraud, to Commit Healthcare Fraud, and to Offer Kickbacks and Bribes in connection with this scheme in the United States District Court, District of South Carolina, Columbia Division. He then failed to appear for his scheduled sentencing hearing on August 27, 2024:

Kimble operated a large-scale healthcare fraud conspiracy that targeted the Medicare system through the improper marketing and distribution of durable medical equipment (DME), particularly orthopedic braces.  He operated a sophisticated call-center-based operation, beginning around 2014 and continuing to March 2019, that served as the marketing engine for a nationwide fraud scheme in which individuals contacted call centers in the Philippines, telemedicine providers, DME suppliers (the billers), and orthopedic brace suppliers (the drop shippers).  His operations focused primarily on initiating contact with Medicare beneficiaries and persuading them to request orthopedic braces for pain relief, which were frequently unnecessary and prescribed through telemedicine consultations that often lacked legitimate medical evaluation.  The prescriptions were then sold to DME companies, Kimble-affiliated suppliers would ship the braces, and the DME companies billed Medicare for reimbursement.  His fraudulent healthcare enterprise resulted in more than $1.2 billion in Medicare charges and affected thousands of Medicare beneficiaries, many of whom were elderly victims.

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $150,000 for information leading to the arrest and capture of Herbert Leon Kimble.  Kimble was last known to be residing in Manila, Philippines.