Physician Convicted of $5M Health Care Fraud Scheme

A federal jury convicted a physician today for a $5 million health care fraud scheme.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Frederick Gooding, 71, of Wilmington, Delaware, owned and operated a now-shuttered physiatry and pain management practice in Washington, D.C. Between 2015 and 2018, Gooding fraudulently billed Medicare more than $5 million for injections he did not perform, or did not provide as billed, including complicated spinal injections for which he did not own the necessary equipment.

Gooding was convicted of 11 counts of health care fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 26 and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Maureen Dixon of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Philadelphia Regional Office made the announcement.

The FBI and HHS-OIG, with assistance from the Washington, D.C. Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Jil Simon and Emily Gurskis of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case. Assistant Chiefs Jillian Willis and Scott Armstrong were also involved in the prosecution.

The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, comprised of 15 strike forces operating in 25 federal districts, has charged more than 5,000 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $24 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.