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Press Release

Missouri Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for $174 Million Health Care Fraud Conspiracy

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana
Editor’s Note: This matter occurred on date indicated but not published at that time due to government shutdown. Press release posted and made available following the return to normal operations.

NEW ORLEANS, LA – Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced that JAMIE P. MCNAMARA (MCNAMARA), age 50, of Missouri, was sentenced on October 23, 2025, to 10 years in prison for orchestrating a scheme to defraud Medicare by unlawfully billing hundreds of millions of dollars in claims for cancer genetic testing and cardiovascular genetic testing.

According to court documents, MCNAMARA operated several laboratories in Louisiana and Texas, which obtained doctors’ orders for genetic testing from telemarketers and call centers that used aggressive telemarketing campaigns to induce Medicare beneficiaries to agree to receive genetic testing. Orders for genetic testing were signed by purported telemedicine doctors who were not the beneficiaries’ treating physicians, did not perform consultations with the beneficiaries, and did not follow up with the beneficiaries after the testing was performed. To obtain the orders, MCNAMARA paid illegal kickbacks and bribes, which he disguised through sham contracts. In furtherance of the scheme, he also shifted the billing between his laboratories to evade scrutiny from Medicare and law enforcement and concealed his ownership and control of the laboratories by falsely listing the names of his family members as owners and company representatives on Medicare and other documents. In approximately one and a half years, the laboratories operated by MCNAMARA submitted over $174 million in claims to Medicare for genetic testing and received over $55 million in reimbursements. The government previously seized several luxury vehicles from MCNAMARA and over $7 million in bank accounts.

While on pretrial release, MCNAMARA violated his bond conditions by, among other things, fleeing from an unrelated arrest and cutting off an ankle monitor. He was subsequently detained.

U.S. District Judge Darrel J. Papillion sentenced MCNAMARA to the maximum sentence available, 10 years in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release upon his release. MCNAMARA was also ordered to pay over $55 million in restitution, along with a $100 mandatory special assessment fee, and the $7 million seized by the government was ordered forfeited.

“With this significant sentence, Judge Papillion showed that white collar criminals do not get special treatment,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson for the Eastern District of Louisiana. “Medicare fraud targets vulnerable populations, and our office will continue seeking just punishment for business owners and professionals who abuse this crucial trust-based system to steal taxpayer dollars.”

“Our health care system depends on honest billing and legal compliance. This defendant betrayed that trust, exploiting enrollees and draining millions from a system meant to help them,” said Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “We will continue working with our law enforcement partners to expose fraud and hold violators of the health care laws accountable.”

“The FBI respects the Court’s decision to sentence Mr. McNamara to the maximum allowed by law considering his complete and total disrespect for the system and the patients he was entrusted to serve,” said Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp of the FBI New Orleans Field Office. “The FBI is committed to working with our partners like the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to expose fraudulent schemes like this one that steal from the American people and vital systems like Medicare.”

HHS-OIG and the FBI investigated the case.

Assistant Chief Justin M. Woodard and Trial Attorney Kelly Z. Walters of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Moses, Healthcare Fraud Coordinator for the Eastern District of Louisiana, prosecuted the case.

The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force program. Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of 9 strike forces operating in 27 federal districts, has charged more than 5,800 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $30 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.

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Contact

Shane M. Jones

Public Information Officer

United States Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Louisiana

United States Department of Justice

Updated November 19, 2025

Topic
Health Care Fraud