A Florida man pleaded guilty for his role in a $73 million conspiracy to defraud Medicare by paying kickbacks to a telemedicine company to arrange for doctors to authorize medically unnecessary genetic testing. The scheme exploited temporary amendments to telehealth restrictions enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic that were intended to ensure access to care for Medicare beneficiaries. According to court documents, Leonel Palatnik, 42, of Aventura, admitted that, as a co-owner of Panda Conservation Group LLC, he conspired with other co-owners, and with Michael Stein, the owner of 1523 Holdings LLC, to pay kickbacks to Stein in exchange for his work arranging for telemedicine providers to authorize genetic testing orders for Panda’s laboratories. Panda’s owners and Stein entered into a sham contract for purported IT and consultation services to disguise the true purpose of these payments. 1523 Holdings then exploited temporary amendments to telehealth restrictions enacted during the pandemic by offering telehealth providers access to Medicare beneficiaries for whom they could bill consultations. In exchange, these providers agreed to refer beneficiaries to Panda’s laboratories for expensive and medically unnecessary cancer and cardiovascular genetic testing.
