Department of Defense Office of Inspector General
11/08/2024 | Press release | Archived content
Doctor Convicted of Accepting Kickbacks for Blood, Urine Samples
An internal medicine doctor was convicted last week of accepting more than $200,000 in kickbacks for sending patient samples to particular labs, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.
Dr. Hector Ubaldo, 60, was indicted in September. After a two-day trial, it took a federal jury just 14 minutes to find him guilty of conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare kickbacks and solicitation and receipt of illegal kickbacks.
According to evidence presented at trial, Dr. Ubaldo accepted cash from so-called "marketers" in return for sending patients' blood and urine samples to particular labs, including R.K. Clinical, which then billed insurance companies and Medicare for running diagnostic tests.
Dr. Ubaldo also entered into sham medical advisory agreements with the labs and marketers, whereby he was supposed to provided advisory services in exchange for a monthly fee. The labs and marketers had no need for these advisory services and Dr. Ubaldo provided no such services. Instead, the medical advisory service agreements served as a fraudulent vehicle to funnel kickback payments to Dr. Ubaldo in exchange for his sending samples to specific labs.
On multiple occasions, one of the marketers met with Dr. Ubaldo at his office and handed over thousands of dollars in cash. Surreptitiously recorded video of the meetings was introduced into evidence in court.
"To tell you the truth, I need the cash," Dr. Ubaldo told the marketer at one of the meetings.
Dr. Ubaldo later stated, "The minimum I'm willing to [expletive] take on a monthly basis is about $10 grand."
Over the course of the scheme, Dr. Ubaldo accepted more than $253,000 in bribes. The lab was able to bill insurers roughly $3.4 million as result of their illegal relationship with Dr. Ubaldo.
Dr. Ubaldo now faces up to 15 years in federal prison: five years on the conspiracy count and 10 years on the solicitation and receipt count. Following his conviction, Dr. Ubaldo was taken into custody as he awaits sentencing.
The marketer in question pleaded guilty before trial to one count of conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare kickbacks and now faces up to five years in federal prison. R.K Clinical owner Kelly Nelson, who also pleaded guilty before trial, was sentenced in May to 30 months in federal prison.
In total, the Northern District of Texas has prosecuted more than fifteen doctors, marketers, and lab owners connected to this larger scheme over the last several years.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Dallas Field Office and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys P.J. Meitl and Nancy Larson tried the case. U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman presided Dr. Ubaldo's trial.