The Texas Federal Wellness Health and Rehab in Edinburg has shut its doors following a months-long federal investigation into claims that a co-owner and his sister were defrauding a federal worker's compensation program.
All clinic locations are affected, according to a Sept. 18 statement on its website.
"It is with a heavy heart that, due to circumstances out of our control, Texas Federal Wellness Health and Rehab, PLLC, has made the difficult decision to shut down all operations, effective immediately, at all of its clinics," the statement reads.
An indictment says that between 2014 and 2019, Ricardo Cano, a physician assistant and the co-owner of Texas Federal Wellness Center, along with his sister, Rosita Cano Meeks, "billed more than $80 million to the Department of Labor Office of Worker's Compensation Program for physical therapy services provided to injured federal employees," according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas.
The two are facing charges of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, 10 counts of healthcare fraud. Mr. Cano is also charged with seven counts of money laundering.
"Cano entered into an arrangement with a physician to falsely give the appearance a licensed doctor oversaw, managed and controlled the clinics, as Texas law requires," the press release reads. "The charges allege Cano is, in fact, the true owner of the enterprise which he managed and controlled."
In addition, Mr. Cano interfered with an inquiry to the Texas Medical Board into his operation of the clinics, according to the press release.
"As part of the scheme, Cano allegedly coordinated with that physician to obstruct a Texas Medical Board inquiry into a complaint about Cano's role in operating the clinics and submitting false corporate records," the release states. "The indictment also alleges Cano transferred approximately $43 million from the Texas Federal Wellness Center clinics to various bank accounts in Cano's name or in the name of clinics Cano controlled."