Giving your son a skill is better than giving him one thousand pieces of gold, the saying goes. And some could say John Langston gave his son, Keaton Langston, some skills. Skills to commit fraud it seems. Criminal behavior starts for the Langston’s in 2008, when John Langston served nearly three years in prison for his role in conspiring to bribe Hinds County Judge Bobby DeLaughter. Many schemes later by father and son, on May 26, 2024, Keaton pled guilty in a $51 million Medicare fraud scheme that had to have made dad proud.
In the spring of 2019, federal law enforcement agencies announced “Operation Brace Yourself.” The operation exposed over $1.2 billion in healthcare fraud across the nation. As part of this fraudulent venture, Keaton, and a band of co-conspirators, devised a three part scheme that resulted in medically unnecessary laboratory testing, orthotics prescriptions, and compound pharmaceuticals being paid for by Medicare. The first step involved identifying Medicare beneficiaries by soliciting senior citizens to seek out orthotic braces, compound drug prescriptions, and at-home lab tests that they did not need. The second step involved the setup of telehealth providers who would facilitate obtaining prescriptions for these items by paying physicians what amounted to bribes. The third and final step was the sale of orthotics, pharmaceuticals, and at-home genetic lab tests through conspirator-owned businesses.
Conveniently, Keaton Langston could provide for the third step. Langston owned and operated the laboratory that performed medically unnecessary CGx tests. A genetic test intended to determine a patient’s hereditary predisposition for cancer. Langston also had ownership interest in in the pharmacies and orthotic brace companies used to fill the other fraudulent orders he and his co-conspirators generated from the elderly. Keaton personally received over $10 million of the $51.16 million in improper payments.
Keaton Langston was found guilty of health care fraud. He will be sentenced on October 1, 2024, in a federal court in Newark, New Jersey. Maybe his dad will give him some new skills to survive his time in prison.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Family Tradition: Keaton Langston pleads guilty in $51 million Medicare fraud” published by the Magnolia Tribune on May 26, 2024.
In 2008, Joey Langston pled guilty for his role in an effort to bribe Hinds County District Court Judge Bobby DeLaughter to rule in favor of Dickie Scruggs in a dispute over $15 million in attorneys’ fees.
Langston, along with Scruggs, who was also convicted in a separate judicial bribery scandal involving $26.5 million in attorneys’ fees, would both lose their law licenses and serve time in prison.
