No words rang truer for Julio Alvarado than the quote by John Maxwell “Life is like riding in a taxi. Whether you are going anywhere or not, the meter keeps ticking.” On March 30, 2023, Alvarado was found guilty of healthcare fraud by illegally charging Medicaid recipients for transportation services…to nowhere. Alvarado didn’t drive anyone, anywhere. But the meter kept ticking. And Alvarado charged for that time.
As part of this complex operation, Alvarado oversaw a team of more than twelve participants who partook in his scheme to fraudulently bill Medicaid for services between August 2017 and February 2020. Alvarado, himself, was responsible for billing more than $8 million in fraudulent transportation services for Medicaid enrollees in the New York City area supposedly from KJ Transportation C Services Inc. During this time, the company was paid more than $20 million for providing transportation services! Someone should have checked the odometer.
In many cases of these false service claims by Alvarado, the Medicaid recipient was dead or out of the country when the company claimed that it was taking the person to their medical appointments. The company would also use the stolen identities of Medicaid recipients who had never heard of KJ and had never used their services.
Additionally, employees under the management of Alvarado would unlawfully bribe Medicaid recipients into providing their Medicaid information or falsely scheduling trips that they did not take. Someone noticed Alvarado’s taxi wasn’t moving. On March 30, 2023, he pleaded guilty to Medicaid healthcare fraud. In addition to his prison term, Alvarado will serve three years of supervised release and will pay $8,507,115 in restitution,
Today’s Fraud Of The Day is based on article “Yonkers Man Guilty of $8M Medicaid Fraud” published by Yonkers Ledger published on March 30, 2023
Julio Alvarado, 63, of Westchester County was sentenced to 95 months in jail for coordinating and managing a fraudulent transportation billing scheme that defrauded Medicaid of more than $8 million.
U.S. District Judge Kimba M. Wood ruled that Alvarado committed healthcare fraud by illegally charging Medicaid recipients for transportations services. As part of a complex operation, he oversaw a team of more than twelve participants who fraudulently billed Medicaid for services between August 2017 and February 2020.
