RPV Woman Must Pay $15M for Medicare Fraud

The owner of a home health agency was ordered to pay nearly $15 million—about three times the losses suffered by Medicare as a result of a kickback scheme she masterminded, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson's $15 million default judgment against Hee Jung "Angela" Mun of Rancho Palos Verdes resolves a whistleblower lawsuit filed by the agency's then-receptionist, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Mun, 51, is a former registered nurse who owned and operated GreatCare Home Health Agency in the Westlake district of Los Angeles.

The judgment against Mun and the conclusion of the lawsuit were announced Wednesday when the U.S. Marshals Service transferred to the U.S. Treasury more than $1 million seized in March 2011 when federal agents executed a search warrant at GreatCare and seizure warrants on the bank accounts of both the agency and Mun.

GreatCare paid kickbacks to physicians and others to induce them to refer patients to the agency in a $5 million Medicare fraud scheme, prosecutors said.

In a related criminal case, Mun pleaded guilty to federal health care fraud charges and is scheduled to be sentenced in February.

The scheme targeted elderly and primarily Korean Medicare beneficiaries, according to federal prosecutors.

The case came to light in March 2010 when the receptionist filed a lawsuit on behalf of the U.S. government naming as defendants GreatCare; Mun, the company's owner/director; three physicians; a physical therapist and several licensed nurses; and other unlicensed persons employed by the agency.

—City News Service.