Florida man who ripped off feds in $97M health care fraud gets 10 years in prison

A Florida man responsible for $97 million in health care fraud across three separate schemes in Western Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida will spend 10 years in federal prison.

Daniel M. Hurt, 60, of Fort Lauderdale was also ordered to pay that amount in restitution.

On Tuesday, Hurt’s attorney said in federal court in Pittsburgh that his client has already liquidated all of his personal assets to pay back nearly $30 million.

“Mr. Hurt has made extraordinary efforts to address his actions and make things right,” argued defense attorney Colin Callahan in making a case for a lesser sentence.

U.S. District Judge W. Scott Hardy agreed to give less prison time than guidelines called for, but still imposed the penalty requested by the U.S. Attorney’s office.

“The defendant was the organizer, the leader, and his role in the conspiracy was extensive,” the judge said. “That’s a staggering amount of fraudulent conduct.”

Hurt pleaded guilty in September 2022 to three counts including conspiracy, conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to take kickbacks.

The charges stemmed from three separate fraud schemes that began in 2014 in Florida.

In the Pittsburgh case, according to federal prosecutors, from late 2018 to October 2019, Hurt conspired to submit $25 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for unnecessary screenings to determine if a person was at a higher risk of developing cancer.

The reimbursements went through Ellwood City Medical Center.

The government alleged there were nearly 54,000 fraudulent cancer genome testing claims.

Investigators said Hurt, who had an ownership interest in four labs in Colorado, Florida and Maryland, paid companies to be used as “marketers” to offer free genetic testing and host health fairs at long-term care facilities. The marketers would then obtain cheek swabs to be submitted for testing.

Hurt offered kickback to the marketers for their work, prosecutors said.

Then the swabs were sent to the now-defunct Ellwood City Medical Center, even though the facility could not conduct that type of testing.

Hurt directed staff at the hospital to repackage the samples and send them off to third-party labs.

In the New Jersey case, the government said that the scheme involved submitting 25,000 fraudulent claims to Medicare, which paid $53.5 million for cancer genomic testing.

Prosecutors said Hurt received at least $26.8 million from those schemes.

The Florida case dates to the fall of 2014. There, the government said patients were solicited to accept medically unnecessary prescriptions for compounded medications — which are reimbursed at higher rates.

The prescriptions were obtained through a telemedicine service in Utah, the government said.

In the Pennsylvania and New Jersey cases, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services lost a total of $78.9 million. In the Florida case, Tricare, which provides civilian health care benefits for military personnel and dependents, lost $18.4 million, and CHAMP-VA, a health benefit program run by the Department of Veterans Affairs, lost nearly $451,000.

“Breaking the law was not a small portion of defendant’s businesses, it was the business model, and the way in which he made tens of millions of dollars,” the government wrote.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Hurt spoke extensively, apologizing to the court.

“My conduct can only be described as inexcusable, unacceptable and shameful,” Hurt said. “I am profoundly sorry for the damage caused to the health care industry and to my employees who counted on me.”

Hurt also apologized to his children, who were not in attendance.

“I spent my entire life trying to teach my children to be kind, considerate, hard working and honest, and then I do something like this,” Hurt said.

He also said that he taught his children the importance of facing your mistakes.

“So now I’ve got to live up to the words I preached. I must accept responsibility for what I did,” he said.

Callahan noted that Hurt will not be able to see his children graduate from college or watch his son play baseball in his college career.

In asking for a reduced sentence, Hurt cited, among other things, his lack of a criminal record and stable employment history.

“Defendant’s touting of his employment history is bold, since for most of the past decade his work was running businesses he used to defraud the government of tens of millions of dollars,” the government wrote in a court filing.

In announcing the sentence, the judge said he believed Hurt is remorseful.

As part of his punishment, Hurt was required to forfeit a $3 million yacht called “In My DNA” and a multimillion-dollar commercial aircraft.

Hurt will be allowed to self report to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. He asked that he be allowed to remain free until after his son goes to his first day of college in August.

The judge didn’t object, but said the prison bureau will issue an intake date, and Hurt will have to file a motion asking for a delay.