United States of America v. Larry B. Howard and Raymond L. Stone

Tampa, Florida criminal defense lawyers represented Defendants charged with defrauding the United States of America.



Like bears to honey, white collar criminals are drawn to billion-dollar government programs. An example is Tricare, which provides health care insurance benefits for active and retired members of the military and their families. At last count, the Tri-care program had around nine million beneficiaries and paid out to health care providers about fifty billion dollars a year. Most of those providers have been honest.



Some have not been. See, e.g., United States v. Chalker,

966 F.3d 1177, 1182 (11th Cir. 2020) (pharmacist convicted of con-

spiring to submit "false and fraudulent claims” to Tricare); United

States v. Grow, 977 F.3d 1310, 1313 (11th Cir. 2020) (marketer

convicted of "conspiring to commit healthcare and wire fraud,

committing healthcare fraud, conspiring to receive and pay kick-

backs, receiving kickbacks, and money laundering,” all of which

were related to Tricare payments for compounded prescriptions);

United States v. Ruan, 966 F.3d 1101, 1120 (11th Cir. 2020) (medi-

cal doctors convicted of numerous crimes, including conspiracies

to commit health care fraud and mail or wire fraud and to receive

kickbacks related to the Tricare program and other medical bene-

fit programs), cert. granted, 142 S. Ct. 457 (2021); United States v.

Shah, 981 F.3d 920, 922 (11th Cir. 2020) (medical doctor convicted

of participating in a "kickback conspiracy that involved writing

prescriptions for compounded drugs” paid for by the Tricare pro-

gram).

The judgments are AFFIRMED, except that the sentence component of the judgment in Bramwell’s case is VACATED and REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.