Physician Francisco Patino has been charged by the government for involvement in healthcare fraud and money laundering scheme of up to $120 million. For ten years, 2008 to 2018, the physician allegedly distributed over 2.2 million doses of controlled substances and forced patients to submit to harmful injection in exchanged for the controlled substances. He allegedly prescribed opiods to patients who were hard on narcotics and ordered unnecessary urine tests in exchange for illegal kickback. He however, attempted to conceal his scheme by spending hundreds of thousand of dollars to sponsor Ultimate Fighting Championship and hall-of-farmers which made him appear as medical expert on syndicated national TV shows. According to investigations, Dr Patino allegedly used the proceeds to live an extravagant and luxury lifestyle. His trial has been scheduled for April 7 and he faces one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire faud, a count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of healthcare fraud, as well as another count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S by paying and reciveing kickbacks.
