Richmond man sentenced for $1.4 million Medicare home health fraud scheme

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A man will spend nearly five years behind bars after being convicted of committing health fraud for several years, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas announced Tuesday.

The video above is ABC13's 24/7 live stream channel.

Akintunde Oyewale, from Richmond, pleaded guilty on Feb. 1, 2022, and was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison. Then, a three-year supervised release will follow.

Oyewale, a 47-year-old home health company owner, is said to have operated Grace Healthcare Services LLC through September 2017 and allegedly billed Medicare for health services not medically necessary or provided.

He admitted to paying medical clinics for fraudulent home health certifications and patient referrals.

Oyewale also failed to keep and produce records that were supposed to justify the billed claims, officials said, adding that he used the fraudulently-obtained funds for his and his family's benefit.

At the hearing, Oyewale's defense team requested a reduced sentence because he was a father and his mother's caretaker. However, the court noted he had family commitments at the time of the offense that lasted several years.

Oyewale agreed to pay $1,467,719.92 in restitution to Medicare.

SEE ALSO: Married couple charged in multi-million dollar scheme involving privately-owned home health services