Asians behaving badly... Medicare fraud edition! Over the weekend in Los Angeles, authorities arrested a former acupuncture clinic owner -- called "one of Medicare's most-wanted fugitives" -- for billing Medicare for $2.1 million in false claims: One of Medicare's most-wanted fugitives is arrested in L.A.44-year-old Won Suk Lee was reportedly paid about $1.2 million in bogus Medicare money, using a physical therapy clinic as a front. When an warrant for his arrest was issued last year, Lee fled to South Korea. He was promptly taken into custody at the airport when he flew back into Los Angeles on Saturday:
Authorities said Lee was an acupuncturist and owner of two medical clinics in Huntington Park who billed Medicare for $2.1 million in false claims and got paid about $1.2 million."Medicare's Most Wanted" is pretty much the most un-glamorous criminal you can be.
"Since launching our most wanted list in February 2011, we’ve caught 41 fugitives," said Steve Ryan, assistant special agent in charge in Los Angeles for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general. "Our Office of Inspector General fugitive operations are worldwide, with one of our senior agents stationed full time at Interpol to coordinate international investigations."
Lee fled to South Korea after an arrest warrant was issued last year, according to Ryan. From 2009 to 2011, he said, Lee used a physical therapy clinic as a front to bill for services, such as acupuncture and massage, that are not covered by Medicare.