Clinic owner gets 11 years in $28M Medicare scheme

A former physical therapy clinic owner was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison for his role in a $28.3 million Medicare scheme that involved outpatient rehab facilities in Venice and Fort Myers.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew of the Middle District of Florida handed the sentenced down Dec. 2 to Luis Duluc, 54, of Tampa. Duluc, also ordered to pay $14.42 million in restitution, pleaded guilty Feb. 3 to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and making a false statement relating to health care matters. A co-defendant in the case, disbarred attorney Margarita Grishkoff, 60, of Charlotte, N.C., was previously sentenced to 70 months in prison for her role.

Authorities contend Grishkoff and Duluc used various physical therapy clinics and other business entities throughout Florida and other states to submit fraudulent reimbursement claims to Medicare from 2005 through 2009. Those claims, according to prosecutors, totaled $28.3 million, and Medicare paid approximately $14.4 million on those requests.

Duluc, authorities say, was chairman and president of Delaware based-Ulysses Acquisitions Inc., which he and other conspirators used to purchase comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facilities and outpatient physical therapy providers. Those included West Coast Rehab Inc. in Fort Myers and Rehab Dynamics Inc. in Venice, among other locations.

Duluc, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's office, admitted he and his co-conspirators paid kickbacks to obtain, and stole, the personal identifying information of Medicare beneficiaries. He and his co-conspirators also obtained unique identifying information of physicians. They then used this information to create and submit false claims to Medicare through the clinics owned by Ulysses Acquisitions. These claims sought reimbursement for therapy services that were not legitimately prescribed and not actually provided, prosecutors say.

The FBI and the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General brought the case against Grishkoff and Duluc through the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. The U.S. Attorney's office for the Middle District of Florida oversaw the investigation.