Federal prosecutors say that the former chief financial officer of a hospital in suburban Orange County is awaiting his next court date after admitting that he agreed to pay illegal kickbacks to recruiters who supplied individuals from the Skid Row district of Downtown Los Angeles as recipients of bogus treatments in a scheme to defraud the publicly subsidized Medicare and Medi-Cal programs.
Vincent Rubio has agreed to plead guilty to paying kickbacks to "marketers" who recruited homeless individuals and transported them to Tustin Hospital, prosecutors said. Rubio, who faced a federal judge on March 1, has also admitted to failing to report the payments he received from one of the marketers on his federal tax forms, prosecutors added.
Rubio is latest executive caught in the case.
Robert Bourseau, a former Downtown loft-dweller, has been fined $4 million and ordered to serve three years in federal prison for his part in the scheme. Bourseau was involved in the scheme through the City of Angels Medical Center, which operated in the Echo Park district northwest of Downtown and has more recently come under new management and changed names.
A court had earlier ordered Bourseau and Dr. Rudra Sabaratnam, a resident of the upscale Brentwood district on the Westside, to pay a $10 million fine to the federal government as part of a civil lawsuit.
Sabaratnam has also pleaded guilty to criminal charges and is awaiting sentencing.
Bourseau and Sabaratnam are former owners of the City of Angels Medical Center.
The scheme employed paid "recruiters" to deliver homeless clients to the hospitals in Echo Park and Tustin, according to federal officials.
Two of the "recruiters" have also pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the scheme.
Related articles:
• $10 Million Fine for Upscale Skid Row Scammers
• Other Shoe Drops on Skid Row Scam: 3 Years in Prison, $4 Million Fine for Upscale Partner
Sam Hassan is a writer for the L.A. Garment & Citizen.
Photo from Wikimedia Commons.
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