Two Orlando men at the centre of a scheme that steered American veterans to one private clinic in exchange for kickbacks were sentenced in federal court on Thursday, November 5. Laurent Cassagnol, 43, a former Advanced Medical Support Assistant for the VA Community Care Program (VACCP), was sentenced to 6 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $175,172. Heriberto Rivera, 43, the CEO of Family Integrative Medicine of Orlando, LLC (FIMO), was sentenced to 13 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $515,542 — in each case the amount the Justice Department said represented the proceeds each man obtained from the offence.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, Nov 5, 2026
The sentences close the punishment phase of a case that began with a tip to a fraud hotline and ended, according to court documents, with more than $14 million in claims submitted to the Department of Veterans Affairs for acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments and other holistic medical services — claims the government says were procured by illegal payments, not by veterans' medical needs.
How the scheme worked, according to the court record
According to court documents, Cassagnol and Rivera, both of Orlando, Florida, conspired to pay and receive illegal kickbacks and bribes to direct veterans and their families — patients of the VA Community Care Program — to Rivera's clinic, FIMO, for treatment. Rivera paid kickbacks and bribes to Cassagnol in exchange for Cassagnol using his position inside the VA to steer those patients to FIMO. The federal information filed in the Middle District of Florida (Case No. 6:26-cr-00159, Orlando Division) dates the conspiracy from around July 2019 through around December 2023, and says Cassagnol formed a company, LC Management Group LLC, to conceal his receipt of the kickbacks and bribes.
The Justice Department's sentencing statement was direct about why Cassagnol's role mattered: he 'was a vital point of contact between veterans and the VA health care system; his abuse of that role took advantage of veterans and their families who rely on the VA to obtain medical care. The actions of both defendants put profit before the needs of VA patients.' The federal Anti-Kickback Statute, 42 U.S.C. 1320a-7b, is the law that makes it a crime to pay or receive anything of value in exchange for referring patients whose care is paid for by a federal health programme.
From a hotline complaint to guilty pleas to prison
The investigation did not begin with an audit of the clinic's billing. According to the Justice Department, it was the result of a complaint made to the VA Office of the Inspector General (VA-OIG) fraud hotline. The FBI and the VA-OIG then investigated the case. Both men pleaded guilty in July 2026 — Military.com reported the pleas on July 30, noting that sentencing was set for November 5 and that each man faced a maximum of five years in prison, with the actual sentence to be set by a federal district judge after considering the U.S. sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. The sentences imposed on November 5 — 6 months and 13 months — came in well below that five-year maximum, alongside the forfeitures.
The sentencing was announced by Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division, Special Agent in Charge Rodney E. Crawford of the FBI's Tampa Field Office, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Josh Lollar of the VA-OIG's Southeast Field Office. Trial Attorneys Jody King and Angela Benoit of the Fraud Division's Health Care Fraud Section prosecuted the case.
Community Care is the channel through which veterans who cannot get timely care inside VA hospitals are sent to private clinics at public expense — a system used heavily in Florida, which has one of the largest veteran populations in the United States. When an insider is paid to steer those patients, the veteran's choice of provider is quietly replaced by a commercial arrangement, and the public pays the bill: here, more than $11 million was paid out on claims the government says were generated by kickbacks.
The national backdrop — and what happens next
The Orlando case is one file in a much larger federal effort. The Justice Department says its Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, made up of nine strike forces across the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programmes and private insurers more than $45 billion since 2007. The department also notes that on April 7 it created a dedicated Fraud Division, and that its work supports a government-wide anti-fraud task force chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance.
What happens next in this case is now administrative rather than courtroom drama: both men must serve the prison terms imposed and satisfy the forfeiture orders — $175,172 from Cassagnol and $515,542 from Rivera. The Justice Department's release announced no additional defendants and no further court dates in the case. For veterans in the Orlando area, the practical lesson from investigators is the one that started the case: suspected steering or billing abuse in VA Community Care can be reported to the VA-OIG fraud hotline, the channel whose complaint unraveled this scheme.