Another City of Angels exec pleads guilty to medical fraud

Yet another former executive at City of Angels Medical Center in Los Angeles has pleaded guilty in the case involving homeless people being recruited for unnecessary medical treatment. Dante Nicholson, a former vice president with the hospital, pleaded guilty to paying the recruiters who brought the homeless people into the facility for treatment between 2004 and 2007. City of Angels then charged Medicare and Medi-Cal for the services they provided. 

In all the scam netted the hospital $4.1 million. Former chief executive, Dr. Rudra Sabaratnam, pleaded guilty in December [1] in the case, as did recruiter Estill Mitts, who was paid $500,000 to find the homeless people used in the scam; the homeless people, found on Skid Row, were paid $100 or less. 

Nicholson was indicted in January along with former hospital co-owner Robert Bourseau, who is still awaiting trial. Each initially were charged with 13 counts. Nicholson faces up to 10 years in prison, and agreed to pay back more than $4.1 million in restitution to the federal government. 

For more:
- here's the Associated Press article [2]

Related Articles:
Los Angeles hospital exec pleads guilty to defrauding Medicare, Medicaid [1]
Los Angeles man admits to paying homeless to be hospitalized [3]
CA hospitals raided on fraud charges [4]
Exec in CA patient homeless scam denies charges [5]