U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri, 24 September 2020:
A psychiatrist from Chesterfield, Missouri (in St. Louis County) and his business partner have been indicted on federal charges for $15 million in health care fraud.
Dr. Franco Sicuro and Carlos Himpler, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, owned Genotec DX and Midwest Toxicology Group. Apparently the companies were not certified and did not have the equipment required to perform drug tests, they outsourced the tests, then collected Medicare and private insurance company payments for thousands of dollars more than they paid for the tests by submitting fraudulent bills.
Sicuro got his medical degree from the University Of Palermo Medical School in Italy and registered in Missouri in 1997. He is Board Certified in psychiatry.
Conspiracy to defraud carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment for each count and a fine of $250,000 or both. The health care fraud violations carry a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment for each count and a fine of $250,000 or both. Restitution to the victims is also mandatory.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General investigated the case.
Psychiatric Health Care Fraud
Unfortunately, this scenario is not uncommon. Governments and private health insurance companies have provided psychiatrists with billions of dollars, only to find that a significant portion of these appropriations and insurance reimbursements has been lost due to financial fraud within the mental health industry. The United States loses approximately $100 billion to health care fraud each year, with up to $40 billion of this due to fraudulent practices in the mental health industry.
The mental health monopoly has practically zero accountability and zero liability for its failures. Experience has shown that there are many criminal mental health practitioners, this case being only the latest in a long history of such crimes. If you or someone you know has been a victim of psychiatric fraud or abuse, submit a complaint online here: https://www.psychsearch.net/complaints/ and here: https://www.cchr.org/take-action/report-psychiatric-abuse.html.
