Duo Charged with Conspiracy to Commit Health Care Fraud and Conspiracy to Solicit and Pay Kickbacks

John Montgomery, 58, of Exton, PA and Alfredo Lopez, M.D., 47, of Indianapolis, Indiana, were indicted on charges of Conspiracy to Commit Health Care Fraud and Conspiracy to Solicit and Pay Kickbacks, announced United States Attorney Louis D. Lappen. As alleged in the indictment, the defendants contracted with primary care physicians, chiropractors and podiatrists across the United States to provide nerve conduction testing in the provider’s office. Defendants Montgomery and Lopez offered the providers financial incentives to induce them to order nerve conduction tests for patients in their practice, which the defendants provided, and for which they obtained payments from Medicare. According to the indictment, from January 2006 through January 2013, the defendants caused the submission of least approximately $4.1 million of fraudulent claims to Medicare for nerve conduction tests that did not meet Medicare’s coverage criteria and established standards of care for such testing. The defendants are alleged to have caused Medicare to incur losses of at least approximately $ 679,214 during the period charged in the indictment.   

If convicted the defendants face a maximum possible sentence of 15 years imprisonment; three years of supervision after release from prison; fines of 500,000; and a special assessment of $200. 

The case was investigated by Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys M. Beth Leahy and Jennifer B. Jordan.

An Indictment, Information or Criminal Complaint is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.