Physician Charged In $9.5 Million Health Care Fraud Conspiracy

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A federal indictment unsealed today charges Benjamin T. Toh, M.D., 68, of Chicago, Illinois, for his role in a more than $9.5 million health care fraud conspiracy, announced U.S. Attorney Mark H. Wildasin for the Middle District of Tennessee.  Toh was indicted in the Middle District of Tennessee on Monday and arrested by federal agents in Chicago earlier today.

According to the indictment, Toh is a resident of Chicago, Illinois, and a medical doctor, licensed to practice in multiple states, and who operated as a consulting provider to purported telemedicine companies.  As an enrolled and participating provider in Medicare, Toh obtained access to Medicare and Medicaid patients through the purported telemedicine companies, and signed orders for cancer genetic testing (“CGx”) in exchange for the payment of kickbacks.  Toh signed orders without regard to whether they were medically necessary.  Toh was not the treating physician of the patients and he did not conduct an actual telemedicine visit, nor did he follow up with patients on the test results. Toh’s co-conspirators included Advanced Tele-Genetic Counseling (“ATGC”), a telemedicine company based in Kentucky, whose owner, Elizabeth Turner, pleaded guilty last year to a health care fraud conspiracy in the Middle District of Tennessee. 

ATGC received kickback payments from marketers in exchange for providing orders signed by doctors, including Toh.  The marketers targeted Medicare and Medicaid patients through door-to-door marketing, at senior fairs, at nursing homes, and at other locations, and convinced patients to provide their genetic material via a mouth swab kit.  The marketers then provided the swab kits to Crestar Labs, LLC, headquartered in Spring Hill, Tennessee, for CGx testing and in exchange for kickbacks paid by Crestar Labs. Crestar Labs billed Medicare and Medicaid for the tests.  The owner of Crestar Labs, Fadel Alshalabi, as well as several marketers, are charged with health care fraud offenses in a separate indictment pending in the Middle District of Tennessee.

Monday’s indictment alleges that during the period of March 2019 through September 2019, Toh and others caused the submission of more than $9.5 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid for cancer genetic tests. 

If convicted, Toh faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 

This case is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services-Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah K. Bogni and Robert S. Levine are prosecuting the case.

United States v. Elizabeth Turner is docketed at Criminal Case No. 3:21-cr-00280.

United States v. Fadel Alshalabi, et al. is docketed at Criminal Case No. 3:21-cr-00171. The charges are merely accusations.  All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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