The Justice Department accused two men of stealing $120 million from federal health care programs over the course of a decade by bribing patients to enroll in social adult day cares and submit unneeded prescriptions to a pharmacy.
Inwoo Kim, 42, and Daniel Lee, 56, were charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud. They each face up to 10 years in prison.
“Today’s complaint targets those who prey upon the vulnerable so they can steal from American taxpayers and defraud government programs meant to help the public,” A. Tysen Duva, who leads the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a Monday statement.
Kim owns Happy Life and Royal, two social adult day cares in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens in New York City. Lee worked as the centers’ program director.
Charging documents allege the duo began working to submit fraudulent Medicaid and Medicare claims as far back as March 2016. They also purportedly induced patients to submit unneeded prescriptions to a pharmacy Kim used to own.
Patients allegedly received financial incentives, including grocery gift certificates and cash.
“Please give $10,000 to the Korean members first,” Kim wrote in a 2023 text message, according to the complaint.
Over the course of a decade, Medicaid purportedly paid Kim’s businesses $62 million for their social day care services while Medicare paid the pharmacy $58 million for prescription drugs.
Kim’s attorney declined to comment. The Hill has reached out to Lee’s attorney for comment.
Kim has faced scrutiny for years. The Department of Health and Human Services has been investigating him since 2021, and the charging documents also indicate an unnamed health plan had received complaints about the kickbacks.
And in February 2024, New York’s Office of State Comptroller (OSC) identified concerns during a site visit. Day care staff had provided “suspicious” sign-in sheets that appeared to include pre-filled dates and the same handwriting for numerous names, according to the charging documents.
Hellbound and Down 