A Florida man has pleaded guilty to running a scheme that billed Medicare more than $52 million for unnecessary genetic testing, leading to forfeiture of a luxury car and his estate while federal investigators continue the probe.
On Jan. 15, prosecutors say Sean Alterman, 38, of Lake Worth admitted his role in a long-running operation that submitted over $52 million in false and fraudulent Medicare claims for genetic tests that beneficiaries did not need. Authorities say many of those claims were based on prescriptions obtained through illegal kickbacks and bribes, not legitimate medical care.
Court filings describe Alterman as the owner and operator of two laboratories, Live Beyond Medical MGMT, LLC and Dynix Diagnostics LLC, which processed the billed tests. He reportedly bought doctors’ orders from patient recruiters who ran deceptive telemarketing campaigns aimed at Medicare beneficiaries, convincing them to agree to tests without proper clinical justification.
“Healthcare fraud is not a paperwork crime, it is theft from patients and taxpayers,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida. “By buying prescriptions, running deceptive telemarketing campaigns, and billing tens of millions for tests no one needed, this defendant treated Medicare like an ATM. That conduct will be met with aggressive prosecution, forfeiture, and prison time.”
Investigators describe a tactic called “doctor chasing,” where call centers and recruiters faxed physicians false or misleading requests for prescriptions designed to trick doctors into signing off on testing. Those faxes often claimed they were made on behalf of a mutual patient, but they were generated by third-party call centers that had not examined or treated the individuals whose tests were billed.
According to the case documents, Alterman’s labs billed roughly $52 million to Medicare and collected about $36 million from those claims. Prosecutors say Alterman personally netted around $5.5 million, much of it funneled through shell companies he controlled, including Shivv LLC and Shank LLC.
As part of the plea agreement, Alterman agreed to forfeit a Lake Worth estate and a 2022 Rolls-Royce Ghost that were purchased with proceeds traceable to the fraud. The forfeiture is part of the government’s effort to strip illicit gains and restore funds to taxpayers and affected programs.
Alterman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to offer and pay kickbacks, and he is scheduled to be sentenced on April 16. He faces a statutory maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, though the actual term will be determined by a federal judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other legal factors.
The announcement of the guilty plea and forfeiture was made by Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Chris Caldwell of the FBI, and Acting Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Scott J. Lampert of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. The FBI and HHS-OIG are continuing their investigation into the matter.
Trial Attorneys Reginald Cuyler Jr. and Aisha Schafer Hylton of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case, while Assistant U.S. Attorney Nadya Cheatham for the Southern District of Florida is handling asset forfeiture. The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s work against health care fraud and, through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, has charged thousands of defendants in major cases over the past decade and a half.
