United States v. Wilfred Griffith

663 F. App'x 446
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedOctober 28, 2016
Docket15-1860
StatusUnpublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 663 F. App'x 446 (United States v. Wilfred Griffith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Wilfred Griffith, 663 F. App'x 446 (6th Cir. 2016).

Opinion

SENTELLE, Senior Circuit Judge.

Wilfred Griffith was convicted • for his involvement in a Medicare fraud conspiracy and a kickbacks conspiracy and sentenced to a total of 60 months’ imprisonment. On appeal, Griffith challenges the district court’s decision to exclude a printed copy of a Michigan statute as a trial exhibit and the district court’s Sentencing Guidelines calculation. Because the district court did not commit reversible error in excluding the statute or in calculating Griffith’s sentence, we affirm.

I.

A.

This case involves a scheme to defraud Medicare in which Wilfred Griffith and his co-defendants bribed Medicare beneficiaries, referred those beneficiaries for fake home healthcare services, and then billed Medicare for those “services.” The scheme began with Tausif Rahman, who owned several medical clinics and companies that provided home healthcare services to Medicare beneficiaries. Because Medicare only covers home healthcare services if a licensed physician refers the beneficiary for those services, Rahman partnered with Dr. Dwight Smith, a licensed physician and registered Medicare provider. Dr. Smith’s main role was to sign referrals for home healthcare services. Because he only came into the office once a week, Dr. Smith often pre-signed referral and prescription forms, which were later completed by Rah-man’s employees.

To effectuate the fraudulent scheme, Rahman paid kickbacks to “recruiters” and “marketers” for each Medicare beneficiary they brought into his medical clinics. Once the marketers brought the beneficiaries to the clinics, the beneficiaries provided their Medicare information and signed forms that Rahman’s employees filled out later. Using Dr. Smith’s signatures, Rahman’s employees referred these beneficiaries to Rahman’s home healthcare companies, which often billed Medicare for home healthcare services that were either unnecessary or never provided. As Rahman explained at trial, he used the marketers to “help” patients sign the documents and then his companies would “just bill ... Medicare.”

Griffith worked at Rahman’s medical clinics. Although he attended medical school in the Caribbean, he was not a licensed physician and did not have a Medicare provider number. His primary *448 duties entailed meeting with Medicare beneficiaries and completing Dr. Smith’s pre-signed referral forms. To explain Griffith’s role, the Government presented testimony at trial from two Medicare beneficiaries who had been treated by Griffith. One beneficiary testified that Griffith gave him prescriptions for controlled substances and enrolled him in home healthcare services that were either unnecessary or never provided. Notably, the beneficiary could not recall Griffith’s .ever being accompanied by a doctor during their contacts. The beneficiary testified that when he noticed that Medicare billed him for services that he did not receive, Griffith told him not to worry because Medicare was covering the expenses automatically. Griffith denied making that statement.

Another beneficiary testified that Griffith prescribed her painkillers and enrolled her in home healthcare services that she did not need or receive. The beneficiary testified that, although she did not request it, Griffith subsequently increased the dosage of her painkillers, explaining that he “just gave them to me.” This beneficiary also testified that she received money in exchange for signing blank and undated medical forms.

Despite the fact that he was working for Rahman, Griffith did not refer these two Medicare beneficiaries to Rahman’s home healthcare companies. Instead, Griffith referred them to Cherish Home Health Services (“Cherish”), a rival fraud scheme. The owner of Cherish, Zia Hassan, employed a scheme similar to Rahman’s to defraud Medicare: Hassan paid Medicare beneficiaries to fill out paperwork and then used their information to bill Medicare for home healthcare services that were never provided. The Government presented evidence showing that approximately 70% of Cherish’s Medicare claims were fraudulent.

Similar to his work with Rahman’s companies, Griffith was a “marketer” or “community liaison” for Cherish, and was paid between $300 and $400 for each Medicare beneficiary that he forwarded to Cherish rather than to Rahman’s companies. To assist Cherish in its scheme, Griffith compiled lists of patients and sent them to Cherish’s employees to confirm each patient’s Medicare status. Cherish’s employees would then send the lists back to Griffith, noting which patients were Medicare beneficiaries who were not already enrolled in home healthcare. Because Cherish could not bill Medicare for home healthcare services unless licensed physicians were certifying and referring the Medicare beneficiaries, Griffith obtained referrals—each signed by Dr. Smith—for the beneficiaries. Dr. Smith was not aware that Griffith was referring beneficiaries to Cherish using his pre-signed forms. Griffith, on the other hand, testified that he referred patients to Cherish because he learned about Dr. Smith’s and Rahman’s illegal activities and did not want to be involved in any unlawful practices.

In 2011, Rahman became aware that Griffith was redirecting some of his home healthcare referrals to Cherish, and Griffith soon admitted that he was receiving payments from Hassan for sending patients to Cherish. Rahman decided to match Hassan’s offer, giving Griffith $400 for each Medicare beneficiary he referred to Rahman’s companies. Conversely, when Dr. Smith found out about Griffith’s referrals to Cherish, Dr. Smith refused to work with Griffith. Rahman and Hassan were eventually able to reach an agreement concerning their competing fraud schemes, but the agreement came to an end in September 2011 when Rahman was indicted for Medicare fraud.

Because he could no longer work with Rahman or Dr. Smith, Griffith teamed up *449 with another licensed doctor and Medicare provider, Dr. Ruben Benito. Using Dr. Benito’s signatures on home healthcare referrals, Griffith and Cherish continued the scheme.

Federal investigators soon discovered Griffith’s involvement in the scheme and interviewed him. During the interview, Griffith confessed to: (1) prescribing home healthcare services and narcotics to Medicare beneficiaries; (2) using Dr. Smith’s pre-signed prescription pad; (3) receiving $400 kickbacks from Hassan for referring Medicare beneficiaries to Cherish; (4) .signing Dr. Smith’s name on referrals to Cherish without Dr. Smith’s knowledge; and (5) using Dr. Benito to refer Medicare beneficiaries to Cherish. With Griffith’s consent, the agents searched his medical bag and found physical evidence connecting Griffith to the scheme, including a Cherish referral form listing Griffith’s personal cell phone number and fax number. Griffith also identified two specific beneficiaries he had referred to Cherish using Dr. Benito’s name. The Federal Bureau of Investigation obtained Cherish’s lists of patients, which confirmed that Cherish had billed Medicare for the beneficiaries that Griffith had forwarded. Cherish’s billing records revealed that, between November 2009 and December 2013, Medicare paid Cherish over $4.6 million, with $680,922.78 of that amount coming from claims where Dr. Smith or Dr. Benito was listed as the referring doctor.

B.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
663 F. App'x 446, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-wilfred-griffith-ca6-2016.