Anthony Lazzarino, 69, former Chief of Podiatry for the Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Northern California Healthcare System, was sentenced to six years and six months in prison for healthcare fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, between March 2008 and Feb. 2015, Lazzarino and Peter Wong, 62, founder and former CEO of Sunrise Shoes and Pedorthic Service Corporation, engaged in a scheme to defraud the VA by billing for custom work and services that were prescribed but not supplied in shoes delivered to veterans. In addition, they and Wong’s former employee Jai Aing Chen agreed to make materially false statements to the VA regarding where shoes were manufactured, in the course of applying for a national contract worth over $11 million per year. A federal jury found Wong and Lazzarino guilty of healthcare fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud on May 17, 2019. Chen separately pleaded guilty on Dec. 6, 2016.
