A federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on Thursday indicted Dr. Alexander Baldonado for allegedly engaging in a scheme involving the submission of over $20.7 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare.
According to court documents, the Queens, NY-based Baldonado allegedly received cash kickbacks from a laboratory representative and others in exchange for approving orders for laboratory tests billed to Medicare, as well as allegedly billing Medicare for lengthy office visits that never occurred. Baldonado also allegedly participated in COVID-19 testing events at which he authorized COVID-19 tests along with expensive, medically unnecessary genetic cancer tests that patients did not request, were not used in the patient’s treatment, and for which patients rarely received results.
Additionally, as part of a scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid, he received kickbacks and bribes from the owner of a medical equipment supply company in exchange for ordering orthotic braces that were medically unnecessary and ineligible for reimbursement.
Baldonado is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, six counts of healthcare fraud, two counts of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and pay and receive healthcare kickbacks, and one count of soliciting healthcare kickbacks.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for each count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, healthcare fraud, and soliciting healthcare kickbacks, and a maximum penalty of five years in prison on each count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and pay and receive healthcare kickbacks.
