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Feds say Florida surgeon stole $26million from health insurers with bogus billing for fake surgeries he did not perform – Dr deGraft- Johnson allegedly ‘used the money to fund his political ambitions in his native country of Ghana’

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"109460728"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;423030&semi;"><strong>Feds tell judge Florida surgeon &&num;8216&semi;stole millions from health insurers with fake surgeries to fund his political ambitions in his native country of Ghana&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;423030&semi;"><strong>Dr Moses deGraft-Johnson is charged for &dollar;26million in healthcare fraud based&comma; on bogus billing<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;423030&semi;"><strong>A 58-count federal indictment accuses the vascular surgeon of falsely billing insurers&comma; including Medicare and Medicaid&comma; for work he did not actually perform<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;423030&semi;"><strong>Investigators claim up to 90 percent of the more than 3&comma;600 surgeries that the  Tallahassee&comma; Florida based practice billed over the last five years were fraudulent<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;423030&semi;"><strong>Prosecutors told judge they believe the doctor&comma; who migrated to US from Ghana&comma; used the money to fund his goal of becoming president of Ghana  <&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;423030&semi;"><strong>Investigators allege deGraft in that period made at least &dollar;1&period;8million in international wire transfers to entities and associates in Ghana <&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;423030&semi;"><strong>Judge accepted prosecution argument that Dr deGraft poses a flight risk and remanded him in police custody until his next court appearance scheduled for March 23<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mol-img-group floatRHS">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mol-img">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"image-wrap fff-pic">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"overlay-icon mobile-gallery">&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"mobile-gallery-icon"><strong><span style&equals;"color&colon; var&lpar;--color-text&rpar;&semi;"><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-341661" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;02&sol;Moses-deGraft-Johnson-3&period;png" alt&equals;"Moses deGraft-Johnson 3" width&equals;"672" height&equals;"631" &sol;>Tallahassee based surgeon Dr Moses deGraft-Johnson &lbrack;photo&rsqb;&comma; who has been accused of defrauding insurers of &dollar;26million through bogus billing for fake surgeries over a five-year period&comma; is held in police custody until his ex court date in late March<&sol;span><&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<div><span style&equals;"color&colon; var&lpar;--color-text&rpar;&semi;">A Florida vascular surgeon has been accused of duping US health authorities and health insurers out of more than &dollar;26million in fake billings&period;<&sol;span><&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"mol-para-with-font">In early February&comma; a federal grand jury unsealed a 58-count indictment alleging that Dr Moses deGraft-Johnson falsely billed insurers&comma; including Medicare and Medicaid&comma; for work he did not actually perform&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Investigators within the federal Department of Health and Human Services said that deGraft-Johnson&&num;8217&semi;s practice claimed to have performed over a five-year span&comma; more than 3&comma;600 atherectomies&comma; a minimally invasive procedure that clears potentially dangerous buildup in arteries&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Authorities said the doctor&&num;8217&semi;s practice in Tallahassee&comma; Florida&comma; also filed claims for angioplasties that were never performed&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Dr&period; deGraft-Johnson moved to US from Ghana&period; In court documents filed by the US Attorney&&num;8217&semi;s Office for the Northern District of Florida&comma; prosecutors argued to keep the doctor in custody&comma; asserting that he was a flight risk because his &&num;8216&semi;ultimate long-term professional goal&&num;8217&semi; was to one day become the president of Ghana&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;US Magistrate Judge Charles Stampelos agreed with the prosecution argument and ordered deGraft-Johnson held until trial&comma; set for March 23&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"artSplitter mol-img-group">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mol-img">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"image-wrap fff-pic">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"overlay-icon mobile-gallery">&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"mobile-gallery-icon"><strong><span style&equals;"color&colon; var&lpar;--color-text&rpar;&semi;"><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-341660" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;02&sol;Moses-deGraft-Johnson-2&period;png" alt&equals;"Moses deGraft-Johnson 2" width&equals;"650" height&equals;"913" &sol;>Arguing that deGraft-Johnson used the money to fund his goal of becoming president of Ghana&comma; prosecutors said investigations into his bank accounts revealed that he made at least &dollar;1&period;8million in international wire transfers to entities and associates in Ghana <&sol;span><&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mobile-gallery-icon"><span style&equals;"color&colon; var&lpar;--color-text&rpar;&semi;">Further arguing the circumstantial trail of evidence&comma; the government said it hey were &&num;8216&semi;not in a position to evaluate the feasibility of such an endeavor but saw evidence that &lbrack;Dr deGraft&rsqb;&comma; had &&num;8216&semi;been hard at work using the proceeds of fraud in the United States to establish an empire in a foreign country&period;&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;span><&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"mol-para-with-font"><img class&equals;" wp-image-341659 alignleft" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;02&sol;Moses-deGraft-Johnson-1&period;png" alt&equals;"Moses deGraft-Johnson 1" width&equals;"221" height&equals;"330" &sol;>Investigators said they looked into the doctor&&num;8217&semi;s bank accounts and discovered he made at least &dollar;1&period;8million in international wire transfers to entities and associates in Ghana&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Authorities said one of the doctor&&num;8217&semi;s relatives served as vice president of the West African country in the 1980s&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8216&semi;He&&num;8217&semi;s a wonderful doctor&comma; and I will defend him vigorously&comma;&&num;8217&semi; said William Bubsey&comma; the attorney who represented deGraft-Johnson &lbrack;left&rsqb;&comma; during Friday&&num;8217&semi;s detention hearings&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Bubsey disputed the government&&num;8217&semi;s allegations&comma; saying that any money deGraft-Johnson might have sent overseas was meant to help the impoverished people of Ghana and not to enrich himself&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Indicted along deGraft-Johnson was Kimberly Austin&comma; who prosecutors said served as the office manager of the Heart and Vascular Institute of Northern Florida owned and operated by deGraft-Johnson&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Together&comma; they poached patients from a local hospital in which deGraft-Johnson had access to medical records&comma; according to the government&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8216&semi;He used his access to the hospital&&num;8217&semi;s daily census to poach patients for his scheme to defraud&comma; instructing his staff to cold call patients from the hospital so that he could use their presence to fraudulently bill health care programs&comma;&&num;8217&semi; prosecutors said in court documents&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In some cases&comma; prosecutors said&comma; deGraft-Johnson was not even in the country when some of the procedures were supposed to have been performed&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;deGraft&&num;8217&semi;s current defense attorney William Bubsey said it was still uncertain who will represent his client in the upcoming trial because the doctor does not have access to his assets&period;William<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;

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