TENNESSEE–(ENEWSPF)–February 26, 2016. A South Carolina man was sentenced to 82 months in prison today for his role in a nationwide health care fraud scheme that defrauded more than 17,000 victims, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney David Rivera of the Middle District of Tennessee.
William M. Worthy II, 53, of Isle of Palms, South Carolina, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Aleta A. Trauger of the Middle District of Tennessee, who also ordered Worthy to pay $6,524,888.86 in restitution and forfeiture. Worthy pleaded guilty on Nov. 3, 2015, to one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiring to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, health plan embezzlement and money laundering.
As part of his guilty plea, Worthy admitted that he participated in a scheme to defraud thousands of individuals who purchased purported health care coverage from Worthy and his co-conspirators, when in fact the health care plans were not backed by insurance companies. The purported health care plans were marketed by Smart Data Solutions LLC, a company located in Springfield, Tennessee, owned and managed by charged co-conspirator Bart Sidney Posey Sr., 48, of Springfield. Worthy also admitted that he and his co-conspirators embezzled funds from premiums paid by individuals who had signed up for these unauthorized health plans, diverting more than $5.4 million in premiums for their own personal use. He further admitted that the majority of claims submitted in connection with these unauthorized health plans were never paid and accepted responsibility for more than $7.3 million of losses from the fraud.
Worthy was charged along with Posey Sr., Richard Hall Bachman, 67, of Austin, Texas, and Angela Slavey Posey, 49, of Springfield, in a 57-count indictment returned on June 26, 2013. The three co-defendants are pending trial. An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration and Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Secret Service, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and the Tennessee Office of the Attorney General investigated the case. Senior Trial Attorney Nicholas Acker of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sandra G. Moses and William F. Abely of the Middle District of Tennessee are prosecuting the case.
Source: http://www.justice.gov
