Medicare Fraud Jury Verdict returned in favor of Leonard Trial Lawyers’ client after two-week federal criminal trial. Late afternoon Thursday, January 19, 2023, a federal court jury in Chicago (United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois) returned the following verdict of NOT GUILTY on all Counts and charges:
X Not Guilty (Medicare Fraud Conspiracy)
X Not Guilty (Violation of Anti-Kickback Statute)
X Not Guilty (Violation of Anti-Kickback Statute)
X Not Guilty (Violation of Anti-Kickback Statute)
As a result, Leonard Trial Lawyers’ client was able to walk out of Federal court in Chicago fully and completely exonerated. Mike Leonard tried the case to verdict. For Mike to see the client smile larger and more often than he had ever seen over the last four years of this fight made that much more worthwhile. The Government first Indicated the case back in 2019. After the Government produced hundreds of thousands of pages of discovery materials, and after extensive pre-trial motion practice, the case finally went to trial on January 9, 2023 before Judge Valderamma in federal court in Chicago at the Dirksen building. The Government alleged that Mike’s client had knowingly and willfully participated in a conspiracy to defraud the Medicare system. The Government’s theory of the case was that the Defendant’s former employer, a small Chicago-based durable medical equipment provider, had illegally contracted and agreed with other entities to pay a percentage to those entities in exchange for the referral of prescriptions that were submitted to Medicare. Mike was able to successfully argue to the jury that his client not only had no material decision-making authority, but that she was entirely unaware of the alleged scheme. The jury ultimately agreed with Mike and found his client Not Guilty on each and every Count. It is unfortunate that his client had to go through this ordeal, over a period of years. However, once again, a federal court jury exemplified exactly how the system is designed to work.
Written by Michael Leonard
Leonard Trial Lawyers
January 20, 2023