COLUMBIA, South Carolina — Herbert Leon Kimble, 60, of Chicago, has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for conspiracy to defraud the United States and failure to appear, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina said. He was ordered to forfeit more than $195 million and to pay the Medicare program more than $199 million in restitution — yaani roughly 19.9 crore U.S. dollars in restitution alone.
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, District of South Carolina (Justice.gov)
According to the Justice Department, Kimble helped orchestrate a nationwide scheme that used offshore call centers and sham telemedicine companies to generate medically unnecessary prescriptions for orthotic braces. His operation recruited vulnerable Medicare beneficiaries through deceptive advertising and sold their information, with signed doctors' orders, to durable medical equipment companies in exchange for illegal kickbacks disguised as legitimate business payments. The medical professionals involved rarely conducted real consultations, the department said.
Acting as a central architect from the Philippines, Kimble coordinated patients and prescriptions for companies that collectively billed Medicare hundreds of millions of dollars. In total, the department said, Kimble caused over $365 million (yaani about 36.5 crore U.S. dollars) in fraudulent claims, Medicare reimbursed over $199 million, and Kimble personally profited more than $195 million, using proceeds in part to buy a luxury condo at the Shangri-La hotel in the Philippines.
Kimble pleaded guilty in 2019, then failed to appear for multiple court proceedings in 2024, prompting a bench warrant. He was placed on the FBI's Most Wanted Fraudsters list and, days later, was apprehended in the Philippines, returned to the United States and indicted on three counts of failure to appear before entering a new plea agreement, the Justice Department said.
U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Anderson Jr. sentenced Kimble to 240 months in prison, followed by three years of court-ordered supervision. There is no parole in the federal system. The case was investigated by the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and IRS Criminal Investigation.
"Kimble orchestrated one of the largest international healthcare fraud schemes in our nation's history," said U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling for the District of South Carolina. Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald said the sentence proves that "fleeing overseas won't spare healthcare fraudsters from the reach of the Department of Justice."