A New York office manager was found guilty this week in an $8 million Medicare kickback and fraud case that involved cash payments to transportation drivers and falsified patient records.
A federal jury returned a guilty verdict against Olga Popovych, 43, after a one-week trial that laid out a coordinated scheme tied to several Brooklyn physical therapy clinics. She worked as an office manager for those clinics and was accused of directing and facilitating illicit payments that steered vulnerable Medicare patients toward the clinics. The jury found enough evidence to convict her on multiple counts related to health care fraud and false statements.
The heart of the case was a kickback system that paid ambulette drivers in cash to recruit Medicare beneficiaries and deliver them to the clinics for billable therapy visits. Prosecutors say Popovych authorized or arranged those payments and helped conceal the financial trail. In addition to the payments, she is accused of falsifying medical records to show treatment by therapists who were not actually present.
The scheme unfolded over a roughly two-year stretch, and Medicare ultimately paid the involved clinics more than $8 million between 2018 and 2020. Witnesses testified the conspirators used coded language in text messages to discuss the kickbacks, and that Popovych took steps when she suspected law enforcement attention. That testimony helped the jury connect the payments and fake records to an organized conspiracy rather than isolated mistakes.
The verdict was delivered before United States District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall, and the case was announced by federal law enforcement officials including United States Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr., Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, Special Agent in Charge Naomi Gruchacz of HHS-OIG, and Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr. of the FBI New York Field Office. Those officials presented evidence and framed the conduct as a deliberate theft from taxpayers. The prosecution emphasized both the monetary scale and the exploitation of elderly and disabled Medicare beneficiaries.
Popovych was convicted of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, conspiracy to make false statements relating to health care matters, four counts of health care fraud, and three counts of making false statements relating to health care matters. Statutorily, each health care fraud conviction carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and each false statements count carries a maximum of five years. Sentencing will determine the specific punishment, but the potential penalties signal the seriousness with which the courts treat schemes that bilk federal benefits.
The investigation was led by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the FBI, who worked the evidence that prosecutors unfolded at trial. Trial Attorneys Patrick J. Campbell and John Howard of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section handled the prosecution with assistance from Trial Attorney Miriam Glaser Dauermann. Their work relied on witness testimony, documentary evidence, and the electronic communications that linked participants to the pay-to-play arrangements.
On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (Fraud Division). “The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people.” That new structure, and the Department’s push to stamp out fraud, ties into President Trump’s 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. From a Republican perspective, stronger enforcement and new tools are long overdue to protect taxpayers.
https://x.com/DOJFraudDiv/status/2060470134712504463
The Justice Department pointed to broader enforcement efforts as context for this prosecution, noting that the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program has pursued thousands of defendants and recovered billions in alleged billings. Since 2007 the strike forces have charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal programs and private insurers more than $45 billion, according to federal figures. Agencies like the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Office of Inspector General have also been working to tighten oversight and hold providers accountable for involvement in fraud schemes.
Cases like this show why aggressive investigations matter: they disrupt criminal networks that prey on federal benefits and they send a warning to others tempted to exploit the system. For ordinary taxpayers, the takeaway is plain—accountability can recover money and deter future abuse. The criminal justice system will now carry this matter to sentencing, where the court will weigh the conduct and the statutory penalties at play.
