Doctors in Houston face heavy penalties

• A 13-count indictment was recently unsealed in Texas charging two pharmacists and a physician for their roles in a multimillion-dollar health care fraud, kickback, and money laundering scheme.
• Shalondria Simpson of Houston is a pharmacist who owned and operated two pharmacies in Houston: Advance Pharmacy and TruCare Pharmacy.
• Simpson’s twin sister, physician Lashondria Simpson-Camp of Allen, Texas, allegedly referred prescriptions to Advance and TruCare in exchange for illegal kickbacks and bribes.
• Simpson, Simpson-Camp, and Bryant allegedly conspired with others to submit false and fraudulent claims to the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Program for high reimbursing drugs that were often medically unnecessary and induced by kickbacks and bribes.
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Temp agency owner sentenced for fraud

• A Dorchester woman was recently sentenced in federal court in Boston for tax and fraud offenses in connection with her operation of a temporary employment agency.
• Dam Ngoc Luong was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin to one year and one day in prison and three years of supervised release.
• Luong was also ordered to pay $3,993,169 in restitution to IRS and $155,870 in restitution to Traveler’s Insurance Co.
• Luong pleaded guilty to two counts of filing false corporate and individual tax returns, three counts of failure to collect and pay over employee taxes and one count of mail fraud.
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Judge rules COVID can fall under workers’ comp

• Arizona judges ruled that employees who can trace COVID-19 infections to the workplace can claim workers’ compensation.
• The ruling is important for glass and glazing companies as COVID-19 cases rise nationwide.
• A three-judge panel sided with the widow of an employee of Western Millwork who died of COVID-19, ruling that “death or injury from COVID-19 is compensable where the statutory requirements for workers’ compensation are met.”
• The judges said contracting COVID-19 can constitute an ‘accident’ under the workers’ compensation statute, even if it does not qualify as an occupational disease.
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Connecticut woman illegally collected workers’ comp

• A Woodbridge woman has been charged with workers’ compensation fraud, larceny, and perjury, according to a statement from prosecutors.
• Pamela Reichbart, 59, of Woodbridge, was charged with one count of fraudulent claim or receipt of benefits, one count of first-degree larceny, defrauding a public community, and one count of perjury.
• In 2019, Reichbart was working as a special education teacher and suffered a head injury. She was placed on temporary total disability and began receiving wages and medical benefits through a City of New workers’ compensation program.
• While receiving benefits, Reichbart failed to disclose that she was working at Giordano Monuments from August until December 2020, according to prosecutors. She also did not disclose any improvement in her condition.
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