A Pittsburgh man who owned two area laboratories was sentenced to 18 months in prison, ordered to forfeit $9 million and pay more than $77 million for his role in three kickback schemes.
Ravitej Reddy, 56, used the two labs he owned and operated to execute the schemes, according to an Aug. 14 Justice Department news release. He previously pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the schemes.
He and others paid kickbacks for marketers to obtain cheek swabs from Medicare beneficiaries to be used for laboratory testing, according to the release. He and others also paid kickbacks to ensure that telemedicine physicians provided prescriptions for laboratory testing for the swabs obtained by the marketers. His labs then billed for the performance of the tests.
The schemes caused the U.S. to lose more than $60 million, according to the release.