An internal medicine doctor has been convicted of accepting more than $200,000 in kickbacks for sending patient samples to particular labs, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.
Dr. Hector Ubaldo, 60, was indicted in September. After a two-day trial, it took a federal jury just 14 minutes to find him guilty of conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare kickbacks and solicitation and receipt of illegal kickbacks.
According to evidence presented at trial, Ubaldo accepted cash from so-called “marketers” in return for sending patients’ blood and urine samples to particular labs, including R.K. Clinical, which then billed insurance companies and Medicare for running diagnostic tests.
Ubaldo also entered into sham medical advisory agreements with the labs and marketers, whereby he was supposed to provide advisory services in exchange for a monthly fee.
The labs and marketers did not need these advisory services, and Ubaldo did not provide them. Instead, the medical advisory service agreements served as a fraudulent vehicle to funnel kickback payments to Ubaldo in exchange for his sending samples to specific labs.
On multiple occasions, one of the marketers met with Ubaldo at his office and handed over thousands of dollars in cash. Surreptitiously recorded video of the meetings was introduced into evidence in court.
“To tell you the truth, I need the cash,” Ubaldo told the marketer at one of the meetings.
Ubaldo later stated, “The minimum I’m willing to [expletive] take on a monthly basis is about $10 grand.”
Over the course of the scheme, Ubaldo accepted more than $253,000 in bribes. The lab was able to bill insurers roughly $3.4 million due to their illegal relationship with Ubaldo.
Ubaldo now faces up to 15 years in federal prison: five years on the conspiracy count and 10 years on the solicitation and receipt count. Following his conviction, Dr. Ubaldo was taken into custody as he awaits sentencing.
The marketer in question pleaded guilty before trial to one count of conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare kickbacks and now faces up to five years in federal prison. R.K Clinical owner Kelly Nelson, who also pleaded guilty before trial, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison in May.
In total, the Northern District of Texas has prosecuted more than 15 doctors, marketers, and lab owners connected to this larger scheme over the last several years.
