The proprietor of a tattoo elimination enterprise admitted to defrauding Anthem Blue Cross out of greater than $1.7 million, after mendacity about having 9 paraplegic workers who required particular well being advantages.
Joseph Tusia, 60, pleaded responsible in U.S. District Court docket 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 Removing Inc.
On the floor, Tusia gave the impression to be operating a authentic enterprise and hiring paraplegic workers to assist him conduct it. He had 9 paraplegic workers on his payroll, in accordance with paperwork he submitted to Anthem Blue Cross.
However none of them truly labored for his firm, prosecutors mentioned.
The pretend workers required sturdy medical tools, which they purchased from corporations managed by Tusia, in accordance with federal prosecutors. Between 2018 and 2020, Anthem Blue Cross paid out greater than $1.7 million to Tusia’s corporations that offered the sturdy medical tools, in accordance with prosecutors.
On high 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.
