Dr. Moses de-Graft-Johnson, the famous doctor who saved the life 50Cent after he was shot nine times, has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison, for committing health care fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
The sentence follows Mr. de-Graft-Johnson’s guilty plea on December 18, 2020, which was announced by Jason R. Coody, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
Court documents reveal that for almost four years, beginning in early 2016 until his arrest in February 2020, Mr. deGraft-Johnson performed hundreds of unnecessary, invasive surgical procedures on his patients in Tallahassee.
According to court documents, Mr. deGraft-Johnson found his victims by establishing relationships with churches, nursing homes, a hospital, and an outreach organization. In addition to subjecting his patients to unnecessary surgical procedures, Mr. deGraft-Johnson victimized others by falsifying their medical records, reflecting surgical procedures that he did not perform. This conduct resulted in the creation of erroneous and misleading records that could have caused future doctors to determine a mistaken course of medical treatment for many of his patients, per court documents.
Acting U.S. Attorney Coody said: “This physician compromised the health and safety of his patients in favor of illegal profit. His acts not only violated the law but the trust of his patients. With the assistance of our law enforcement partners, we remain vigilant to investigate and prosecute all who defraud our citizens for their own personal gain”.
Omar Pérez Aybar, who is a Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General noted that It’s disturbing that a physician would be so driven by greed and indifferent to the well-being of his patients that he would perform medically unnecessary, invasive procedures and steal medical identities to boost profits. He continued by emphasizing that with their law enforcement partners, they will hold accountable individuals who perpetrate such egregious fraud and violate their oaths as physicians and Medicare providers.
In addition to the term of imprisonment, the sentence included the forfeiture of assets in the United States and overseas, including luxury vehicles, jewelry, and homes in Manhattan, Southampton, New York, Miami, and Houston as well as an order of 28.4 million dollars in restitution.
Rachel L. Rojas, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Jacksonville Division posited that this case is a direct result of the commitment by the FBI and law enforcement partners to aggressively pursue those who willingly defraud American citizens.
Speaking further, Rachel Rojas noted that instead of Mr. de-Graft Johnson caring for his patients, he targeted vulnerable members of the community, subjected them to unnecessary surgical procedures, and falsified documents, so he could line his pockets with millions of taxpayer dollars.
“Fraud, like this, reduces the availability of critical resources and contributes to the rising cost of healthcare for all. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to investigate these crimes and prosecute all those who defraud the American public for their gain”.
Rachel Rojas
This conviction was the result of the collaborative work of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Internal Revenue Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Florida Attorney General. Assistant United States Attorney Andrew J. Grogan prosecuted the case.
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