The proprietor of a tattoo removing enterprise admitted to defrauding Anthem Blue Cross out of greater than $1.7 million, after mendacity about having 9 paraplegic staff who required particular well being advantages.
Joseph Tusia, 60, pleaded responsible in U.S. District Courtroom in Los Angeles final month to tax evasion and healthcare fraud for a four-year scheme he ran out of his South Gate firm, Tattoo Elimination Inc.
On the floor, Tusia seemed to be operating a authentic enterprise and hiring paraplegic staff to assist him conduct it. He had 9 paraplegic staff on his payroll, in response to paperwork he submitted to Anthem Blue Cross.
However none of them really labored for his firm, prosecutors mentioned.
The faux staff required sturdy medical tools, which they purchased from corporations managed by Tusia, in response to federal prosecutors. Between 2018 and 2020, Anthem Blue Cross paid out greater than $1.7 million to Tusia’s corporations that supplied the sturdy medical tools, in response to prosecutors.
On prime of that, Tusia didn’t report earnings from his medical tools corporations between 2017 and 2020. He owed the Inside Income Service greater than $1.5 million.
Tusia is ready to be sentenced on Dec. 8 and faces as much as 15 years in jail.