Community Corner

Roswell Doctor Charged with Health Care and Tax Fraud

Lawrence Epplebaum was indicted by a federal grand jury Monday, Mar. 28.

Lawrence Epplebaum, a Roswell doctor, was indicted by a federal grand jury and arraigned Monday, Mar. 28 for allegedly committing health care and tax fraud.  

Epplebaum is a licensed physician who owns and operates the “Atlanta Institute of Medicine and Rehabilitation” and the “Pain Clinic of AIMR” in Atlanta. In 2004, Epplebaum allegedly created the “Back Pain Fund,” a purported charitable organization. However, it was never incorporated as a charitable tax-exempt entity and Epplebaum actually controlled it both directly and indirectly. 

The indictment alleges that Epplebaum was the primary donor to the Back Pain Fund and paid the vast majority of its operating expenses.  He allegedly tried to disguise his financial control over the Back Pain Fund by entering into an arrangement with a Jewish Day School in Atlanta, whereby the parents of students attending the Jewish Day School were instructed to make their tuition checks payable to the Back Pain Fund instead of to the school, and in turn, Epplebaum repaid the Jewish Day School for the amount of the tuition, plus an additional 25 percent. He allegedly entered into similar arrangements with other organizations and even allowed patients visiting his medical practice to make their co-payment checks payable to the Back Pain Fund in exchange for receiving a charitable contribution receipt.  Between 2004 and 2009, Epplebaum treated hundreds of Back Pain Fund patients and billed Medicare approximately $15 million for their treatment.

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Through the fund, he paid for Medicare patients to travel to Atlanta to receive medical treatment from his practice, then travel to Florida or North Carolina to visit a local hot spring for approximately four days, before returning to Atlanta to receive additional treatment. 

“Providing free interstate trips at taxpayer expense and billing the government for needless services, as Dr. Eppelbaum stands accused of here today, is the sort of corruption all too common in our health care system,” said Derrick L. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Region for the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human Services.  “My agency will work with our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute health care fraud in all its forms.

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Epplebaum is also charged with utilizing the Back Pain Fund as a vehicle for committing tax fraud.

The indictment charges that during 2006 through 2008, Epplebaum deducted all the payments he made to the Back Pain Fund, the Jewish Day School, and the other organizations with which he had a financial arrangement as charitable donations, even though he allegedly derived substantial personal income from treating Back Pain Fund patients. 

The indictment alleges that Epplebaum evaded approximately $1 million in federal income taxes through his scheme.  

"The Medicare system is designed to provide patients with the ability to choose physicians and other medical providers based on their own medical needs.  This defendant allegedly used a purported charitable organization he controlled to manipulate the system, paying kickbacks to Medicare patients to induce them to use his medical practice for care," said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. "The indictment alleges that these payments, hidden as charitable efforts, violated criminal anti-kickback laws."

The indictment charges 21 counts of medicare fraud and tax fraud. The health care charges each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.  The tax charges each carry a maximum sentence of 3 or 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. 

Assistant United States Attorneys Kurt R. Erskine and Steven D. Grimberg are prosecuting the case.


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