{"id":376,"date":"2026-08-03T16:32:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T16:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/?p=376"},"modified":"2026-08-03T16:32:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T16:32:35","slug":"ceo-and-va-employee-plead-guilty-to-paying-and-receiving-illegal-health-care-kickbacks-and-bribes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/?p=376","title":{"rendered":"CEO and VA Employee Plead Guilty to Paying and Receiving Illegal Health Care Kickbacks and Bribes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    <a id=\"main-content\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"grid-container\">\n<div class=\"\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"grid-row grid-gap a11y-natural-flow\">\n<div class=\"usa-layout-docs__main tablet-lg:grid-col-fill\">\n<div data-drupal-messages-fallback class=\"hidden\"><\/div>\n<article class=\"grid-row grid-gap\">\n<div class=\"node-content node-press-release\">\n<div class=\"node-type\">Press Release<\/div>\n<h1 class=\"page-title\">\n<span class=\"field-formatter--string\">CEO and VA Employee Plead Guilty to Paying and Receiving Illegal Health Care Kickbacks and Bribes<\/span><br \/>\n<\/h1>\n<div class=\"node-top\">\n<div class=\"node-top-left\">\n<div class=\"node-language-switcher\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"node-date\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"field-formatter--datetime-default field_date\"><time datetime=\"2026-07-30T12:00:00Z\">Thursday, July 30, 2026<\/time>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"node-top-right\">\n<div class=\"node-info-box\">\n          <strong>For Immediate Release<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"node-office\">\n                            Office of Public Affairs\n            <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"node-body\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"field-formatter--text-default field-text-format--wysiwyg text-formatted field_body\">\n<p>Two Florida men pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks and bribes.<\/p>\n<p>According to court documents, Laurent Cassagnol, 43, and Heriberto Rivera, 43, both of Orlando, Florida, conspired to refer patients of the VA Community Care Program (VACCP) to Family Integrative Medicine of Orlando, LLC (FIMO) for acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments, and other holistic medical services. Rivera, the CEO of FIMO, admitted to paying kickbacks and bribes to Cassagnol, an Advanced Medical Support Assistant for VACCP, in exchange for Cassagnol steering VA patients to FIMO for medical services. Cassagnol admitted to accepting Rivera\u2019s payments. As a result of the conspiracy, the VA and VACCP was billed for over $14\u00a0million in claims that were procured through the payment of kickbacks and bribes, of which over $11 million was paid. The investigation was the result of a complaint made to the VA Office of the Inspector General (VA-OIG) fraud hotline.<\/p>\n<p>Cassagnol and Rivera both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks and bribes. Cassagnol and Rivera are scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 5. Each defendant faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.<\/p>\n<p>Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department\u2019s National Fraud Enforcement Division; Special Agent in Charge Rodney E. Crawford of the FBI Tampa Field Office; and Acting Special Agent in Charge Greg Wentz of the VA-OIG Southeast Field Office made the announcement.<\/p>\n<p>FBI and VA-OIG are investigating the case.<\/p>\n<p>Trial Attorneys Angela Benoit and Jody King of the Criminal Division\u2019s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.<\/p>\n<p>On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the Fraud Division. The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people.\u00a0The Department\u2019s work to combat fraud supports President Trump\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Justice\u2019s Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, currently comprised of nine strike forces operating in federal districts across the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion since 2007. In addition, the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.justice.gov\/criminal-fraud\/health-care-fraud-unit\">www.justice.gov\/criminal-fraud\/health-care-fraud-unit<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"node-updated-date\">Updated July 30, 2026<\/div>\n<hr>\n<div class=\"node-topics\">\n<div><strong>Topic<\/strong><\/div>\n<div class=\"field-formatter--entity-reference-label field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item\">Fraud<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"node-component\">\n<div class=\"label text-bold margin-bottom-1\">\n                Components      <\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\">\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fbi.gov\/\"><br \/>\n          Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)<br \/>\n        <\/a>\n      <\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\">\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/fraud\"><br \/>\n          National Fraud Enforcement Division<br \/>\n        <\/a>\n      <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>        <span>Press Release Number:<\/span> 26-869\n      <\/div>\n<\/article><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"grid-row grid-gap\">\n<div class=\"post-content-region\">\n<div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"tni-attribution\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/ceo-and-va-employee-plead-guilty-paying-and-receiving-illegal-health-care-kickbacks-and\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Justice News<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/ceo-and-va-employee-plead-guilty-paying-and-receiving-illegal-health-care-kickbacks-and\">Justice News<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two Florida men pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks and bribes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-department-of-justice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=376"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":583,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376\/revisions\/583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}