Ex-Humana employees took $4M in alleged kickbacks

Two former Humana employees have been charged with bribery and racketeering for accepting more than $4 million to drive some of the insurer's Medicare business to a South Carolina company.

Former Humana sales managers James Wenger and Glenn Fine allegedly took the bribes to steer insurance agents and brokers to Cutler & Associates, an insurance middleman company in Columbia, S.C., to sell Humana Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug plans to Medicare beneficiaries, reported the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Wenger and Fine reached the deal with Cutler CEO Shep Cutler and a business partner in 2005, agreeing to divide the so-called override fees among the four of them. The former Humana employees set up fake bank accounts in their wives' names to receive their share of the money.

Throughout the investigation, Humana cooperated with the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Inspector General. Humana claims it was a victim of the bribery scheme, the Associated Press reported. "They abused their positions at Humana to profit personally at the expense of the company," said Humana spokesperson Tom Noland.

"Humana also suffered a loss to their business as a result of legal and investigative costs," Assistant U.S. Attorney Lettricea Jefferson-Webb noted.

Wenger pled guilty Wednesday, agreeing to pay $100,000 to Humana and another $900,000 to the federal government. Fine is expected to plead guilty early next month, the Courier-Journal noted.

To learn more:
- read the Louisville Courier-Journal article
- see the Associated Press article