A physician and her husband were charged with fraud and tax evasion related to a scheme that defrauded healthcare benefits programs of more than $10 million.
Claribel Tan, MD, a rheumatologist, and her husband Daniel Tan allegedly submitted false claims that misrepresented services provided to patients at their medical clinic in Anchorage, Alaska, and deceived patients regarding the necessity and type of treatments received, according to a July 23 release from the Justice Department. The indictment further alleges that, Dr. Tan and Mr. Tan fraudulently received more than $10 million from healthcare benefit programs and that the couple evaded income taxes by providing false information on their tax returns for 2014, 2015 and 2017. Further, the indictment alleges that Mr. Tan evaded taxes in 2017, and that the couple did not file tax returns from 2018 to 2021.
Dr. Tan and Mr. Tan were each charged with one count of healthcare fraud and four counts of wilful failure to file a tax return, according to the release. Dr. Tan was also charged with three counts of attempting to evade and defeat tax, and Mr. Tan was charged with four counts. The Justice Department already seized about $8.5 million of the fraudulently obtained funds from the defendants' accounts in a separate civil case.