A New Jersey physical therapist was sentenced for her role in a multi-million-dollar scheme that billed Amtrak’s health plan for services that were never provided, resulting in prison time, supervised release, and millions in restitution.
A New Jersey physical therapist was recently sentenced in connection with a $2 million healthcare fraud scheme that targeted the Amtrak health care plan. The case centers on bogus billing for services that were not provided or were medically unnecessary, and it stretches across multiple years and participants. Federal authorities pursued the matter as part of a broader crackdown on fraud against employer-sponsored benefit plans.
Taejin Kim, 44, of Fort Lee, New Jersey, pleaded guilty on June 11, 2025, before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in Newark federal court to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. The guilty plea came after an investigation that tied Kim to a network of providers and Amtrak employees who enabled the false claims. The docket and plea date are part of the official court record in the Newark federal courthouse.
Kim was sentenced to 12 months plus one day of imprisonment and to two years’ supervised release following her prison term. She was also ordered to pay over $2.2 million in restitution as part of the court’s attempt to recoup stolen plan funds. The sentence reflects federal guidelines and the seriousness of orchestrating or facilitating fraudulent medical billing.
Court filings show the scheme ran from October 2019 through June 2022, with conspirators arranging for claims for services that were never provided or that lacked medical necessity. Kim, a licensed physical therapist, permitted her professional license and business bank accounts to be used for billing in exchange for a share of the illicit proceeds. That arrangement allowed other actors in the conspiracy to submit claims under a legitimate provider identity while concealing who actually ordered or received services.
Other co-conspirators recruited Amtrak employees to participate by paying them cash in return for using their personal and insurance information to submit false claims. Dozens of employees and multiple healthcare providers were involved, and the scheme relied on cash kickbacks as inducements to keep the fraud moving. Investigators say those cash payments amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of the conspiracy.
Overall, the Amtrak healthcare plan paid more than $11 million in fraudulent claims tied to providers connected with the network. Claims associated with Kim amounted to approximately $2,253,453 in paid benefits from the plan. Those figures come from the court filings and the government’s accounting of paid claims tied to the conspiracy.
The investigation has resulted in the prosecution of nineteen individuals, including Kim, and all have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. The prosecutions span multiple defendants and illustrate how investigators traced payments and claim patterns back to a coordinated scheme. Prosecutors say the group work and shared payments created clear evidence of a conspiracy rather than isolated misconduct.
U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer credited special agents of the Amtrak Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James Harper, the Amtrak Police Department, under the direction of Acting Chief of Police James Cook, and special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Frank A. Tarentino III in New York, with the investigation. Those agencies worked together to trace financial flows, interview witnesses, and execute search and seizure actions that produced key documents. The interagency cooperation helped convert financial leads into indictments and guilty pleas.
On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division. The core mission of the Fraud Division is to zealously investigate and prosecute those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars. Department of Justice efforts to combat fraud support the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within federal benefit programs.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine M. Romano, Co-Chief of the General Crimes Unit, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen O’Leary of the HealthCare Fraud and Opioids Enforcement Unit.
