Former Owner Of Long Beach Medical Equipment Supply Company Sentenced To 2½ Years In Prison In $2.6 Million Medicare Scam

LOS ANGELES – The former owner of a Long Beach medical supply company was sentenced today to 30 federal months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $1.5 million in restitution for his role in a scheme to provide unnecessary power wheelchairs to Medicare patients.

Akinola Afolabi, 55, of Long Beach, received the sentenced from United States District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez.

Afolabi was the owner and president of Emmanuel Medical Supply, which sold durable medical equipment. Afolabi provided medically unnecessary power wheelchairs and other medical equipment to Medicare beneficiaries, and submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare for this equipment. Afolabi admitted that he paid “marketers” to obtain Medicare beneficiary information that he used on the false claims. Afolabi admitted that prescriptions for the equipment and related medical documents were fraudulent, and that some of the beneficiaries did not even receive the wheelchairs or other medical supplies that were the subject of bills submitted to Medicare.

From June 2006 through September 2009, Afolabi submitted approximately $2,668,384 in fraudulent claims to Medicare for power wheelchairs and related services, and Medicare paid approximately $1,490,532 on those claims.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which is supervised by the United States Attorney’s office and the Fraud Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Release No. 14-124