Former Grand Rapids-Area Financial Adviser Sentenced to 54 Months in Prison for Wire Fraud

GRAND RAPIDS, MI—U.S. Attorney Patrick A. Miles, Jr. announced today that Lawrence Maxwell McCoy of Bitely, Michigan, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Janet T. Neff to 54 months in prison for wire fraud. The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a one-count felony information on September 7, 2012, charging McCoy with a scheme to defraud. McCoy pled guilty to the charge on September 20, 2012, pursuant to a plea agreement.
McCoy sold mutual funds and insurance in and around Holland and Grand Rapids, doing business as Hallbrook Asset Management and Hallbrook Group LLC. Under these auspices, McCoy provided legitimate investment advice and services but also defrauded six of his clients, causing total losses of $708,267.37 between 1995 and 2009. To perpetrate his fraudulent scheme, McCoy fabricated an investment that he called “Marsico Private Ledger.” He represented to his clients that Marsico Private Ledger was an investment offered through Marsico Capital Management LLC, a real mutual fund provider based in Colorado. McCoy then induced many of his existing clients, who otherwise had legitimate investments managed by McCoy, to invest in Marsico Private Ledger. After McCoy received his clients’ money under these fraudulent pretenses, he diverted it to his own use. To cover up the fraudulent scheme, McCoy fabricated investment return information and published it to his clients by manually entering the phony returns on a legitimate third-party Internet reporting site dedicated to wealth management reporting. McCoy also sent e-mails to his clients to communicate the phony return information and to assure them that their investments in Marsico Private Ledger were safe. McCoy specifically targeted clients that he knew would not have an immediate need for their money. Through his scheme, McCoy stole clients’ nest eggs and money earmarked for college funds.
In handing down McCoy’s sentence, Judge Neff pointed out that McCoy’s behavior was “not aberrant” but, rather, “a thread in his history.” In 2009, McCoy was sentenced in 28th Circuit Court in Cadillac, Michigan, to five years of probation for embezzling money from investments that he managed for a family member. Judge Neff added, “When people fall prey to this type of financial misconduct, it is really devastating.”
U.S. Attorney Miles stated, “Financial fraud often is a silent crime that can go undetected for months, if not years. When that happens, the impact on a victim’s nest egg is truly devastating. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan is committed to pursuing and bringing to justice financial professionals who defraud their clients.”
In addition to his 54-month prison sentence, McCoy was also sentenced to two years of supervised release and was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $690,267.37.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Fauson and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Grand Rapids Resident Agency.

Physical Therapy Assistant Pleads Guilty in Connection with Detroit Medicare Fraud Scheme

WASHINGTON—Detroit-area resident Ankit Patel pleaded guilty today for his role in a $13.8 million home health care fraud scheme, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara L. McQuade; Special Agent in Charge Robert D. Foley, III of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh, III of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Chicago Regional Office.
Patel, 28, of Westland, Michigan, pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud before U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen of the Eastern District of Michigan.
According to court documents, Patel was paid beginning in June 2009 to falsify medical documentation for Physicians Choice Home Health Care LLC, a home health agency owned by his alleged co-conspirators. Patel, a physical therapy assistant, pleaded guilty to creating evaluations, therapy revisit notes, and other medical documentation memorializing purported physical therapy for patients he did not see or treat. According to court documents, an alleged co-conspirator instructed Patel on how to falsify medical documentation. Patel also signed therapy revisit notes as a physical therapy assistant for patients he did not see or treat. Patel admitted to knowing that the documents he falsified and the documents he signed would be used to support false claims to Medicare for home health services.
According to Patel’s plea agreement, he was subsequently paid to create and sign falsified medical documentation for First Care Home Health Care LLC, Quantum Home Care Inc., and Moonlite Home Care Inc., which were Detroit-area home health care companies also owned by alleged co-conspirators that billed Medicare.
From approximately June 2009 through September 2011, Medicare paid approximately $1,324,015 to Physicians Choice and Quantum for fraudulent physical therapy claims based on falsified files and notes signed by Patel.
At sentencing, scheduled for March 25, 2013, Patel faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Ten of Patel’s co-defendants have pleaded guilty, and one has been sentenced. Three co-defendants are fugitives, and five co-defendants await trial.
This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Catherine K. Dick of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. It was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,480 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $4.8 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.