United States of America v. Kevin S. Murdock,Thomas C. Lee, and Vidhya V. Narayanan

Columbia, South Carolina criminal defense lawyers represented the Defendants charged with health care fraud and conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

The indictment alleges that Kevin S. Murdock, 56, owned and operated Premier Medical Laboratory Services, headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina. Thomas C. Lee, 56, both of Greenville, and Vidhya V. Narayanan, 45, were both high-level employees of Premier. Premier offered diagnostic testing services for medical providers, including but not limited to COVID-19 testing. The defendants devised a multi-part scheme to fraudulently generate revenue from health care benefit programs related to the pandemic. This included submitted false claims to the federal government for individual tests when in truth the tests had been pooled together for combined, faster processing and for manipulating test processing software. As a result, the defendants billed for tests that virtually worthless and ineligible for reimbursement. The conspiracy to defraud healthcare benefit programs generated millions in fraudulent proceeds.

The defendants each face a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and three years of supervised release to follow the term of imprisonment.

Murdock previously agreed to a consent judgment of $27,544,460, acknowledging there is a likelihood he would be found liable in the civil action brought against him by the United States and the States of Colorado, Georgia, and South Carolina for violating the False Claims Act, the Georgia False Medicaid Claims Act, the Colorado Medicaid False Claims Act, and the South Carolina Medical Assistance Provider Fraud Statute.

The case was investigated by the FBI Columbia Field Office, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the South Carolina Attorney General's Office's Vulnerable Adults and Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Watkins is prosecuting the case.

All charges in the indictment are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.