An Arkansas man who owned or managed several diagnostic testing laboratories is charged with health care fraud for alleged false billing of more than $100 million for urine drug testing, COVID-19 testing and other clinical laboratory services.
Billy Joe Taylor engaged in a scheme between February 2017 and May 2021 in connection with diagnostic laboratory testing, according to court documents, the U.S. Department of Justice reported.
“The indictment alleges that Taylor obtained medical information and private personal information for Medicare beneficiaries and then misused that confidential information to repeatedly submit claims to Medicare for diagnostic tests that were not ordered by medical providers and were not actually performed by the laboratories,” according to the U.S. DOJ Office of Public Affairs.
He allegedly then spent the proceeds of the fraud on a lavish lifestyle. The defendant is accused of 16 counts of health care fraud and one count of engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property, according to the U.S. DOJ.
Taylor is scheduled for his arraignment on Tuesday, Nov. 23.
