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A key overseas figure in a health care fraud that bilked the Medicare system out of $1.2 billion failed to appear at a second consecutive South Carolina court hearing and possible sentencing on Sept. 19.
Call-center operator Herb Kimble, described as a critical cooperative witness who helped bust open "Operation Brace Yourself," remains in the Philippines, where he lives, according to federal prosecutor Amy Bower.
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The court was told he's working "to get his affairs in order" and needs about six weeks, she said after the hearing.
Kimble's April 2020 plea deal called for no prison time, based partly on his extensive cooperation and partly on $40 million in restitution he promised to pay the government. He also agreed to continue to assist investigators for five years after his sentencing.
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Kimble remains subject to an arrest warrant that U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Anderson issued late last month after he failed to appear at a mandatory conference. Also, his $5 million bond was revoked.
The government unveiled the widespread probe investigation in Columbia in 2019, targeting fraudulent prescriptions for so-called orthotic support devices, such as neck and knee braces.
The fraud was said to have originated in South Carolina, but the tentacles soon spread to corrupt health-care practices and suppliers across the country and, eventually, to Kimble's business in Asia.
Andrew Chmiel, a onetime Mount Pleasant resident who owned a $1.1 million home, and Kimble were described as two of the architects of the scheme. Chmiel pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine years in prison in March.
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Prosecutors said the fraud hinged in part on workers Kimble employed in the Philippines. Known as "chasers," their job was to obtain prescription information from elderly Medicare recipients who phoned in after seeing targeted TV promotions.
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"An example of the advertisements are back brace commercials that run in the afternoon specifically asking: 'Are you over 65 and on Medicare -- do you need a back brace at little or no cost to you?'" according to evidence presented in 2019. "The commercials list a 1-800 number -- when the Medicare beneficiary calls in, the call is routed to a call center in the Philippines.
Physicians at telemedicine practices were then paid kickbacks for signing the prescriptions, often for patients they never met or examined. The information was then sold to suppliers that shipped the devices and charged Medicare.
Kimble's defense attorneys did not respond to a request for comment. Earlier his week, they asked that Thursday's hearing be postponed because they were in court trying a case in Aiken. Anderson declined the request almost immediately.
"This court has attempted to convene the hearing currently set for September 19, 2024, for several months, if not years," he wrote.
The next hearing has been scheduled for Nov. 7 in Columbia.
IN a 2022 court document, the government explained the "binary choice" it faced in not seeking prison time, noting that "the stark reality is that defendants who are truly similarly situated to Mr. Kimble are rarely convicted at all. That is because most defendants with substantial financial resources who live in countries from which they cannot be extradited never come to the United States to face prosecution."
The choices were to "obtain a conviction with probation, significant restitution, and substantial cooperation; or get nothing beyond what we had already developed against the U.S.-based defendants nearly five years ago."
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