Massachusetts Doctor Sentenced to 36 Months in Prison for Participation in Multimillion-Dollar Medicare Fraud Scheme and for Violating the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute

NEWARK, N.J. - A Massachusetts doctor was sentenced for her role in telemedicine health care fraud and kickback schemes that resulted in more than $40 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare and TRICARE, U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer announced.

Le Thu, 71, of Boston, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark, in May 2025, to one count of an indictment, charging her with conspiracy to violate the Federal Anti-Kickback statute and, in June 2025, to a two-count information, charging her with false statements related to health care matters. Thu was sentenced on October 6, 2026, on all counts to 36 months' imprisonment with two years' supervised release, and ordered to pay over $27 million in restitution.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From May 2014 through April 2017, Thu participated in a conspiracy in which she received kickbacks from a telemedicine company in exchange for approving hundreds of prescriptions for durable medical equipment and compounded medications. Thu agreed to accept kickback payments of approximately $35 from the telemedicine company in exchange for each prescription she approved, knowing that certain of the prescriptions would be used to bill TRICARE, a health care program of the U.S. Department of Defense. TRICARE paid pharmacies hundreds of thousands of dollars for compounded medications that were procured through kickbacks Thu received.

From March 2017 through November 2020, Thu participated in a second telemedicine health care fraud scheme in connection with payments for genetic tests and durable medical equipment for Medicare beneficiaries. On behalf of multiple telemedicine companies, Thu signed, and caused others who had no medical training to sign, false medical documentation and orders for genetic tests and durable medical equipment. The documentation made it appear that Thu had exercised her medical judgment in approving the orders and, in certain instances, that she would use the genetic test results to treat beneficiaries. Thu, however, had not interacted with or provided any medical care to the beneficiaries prior to signing, or having others sign, the doctors' orders. Thu signed thousands of such orders that contained statements she knew were false and material to Medicare in exchange for payments to her totaling more than $200,000. As a result, Thu caused durable medical equipment suppliers and laboratories to submit more than $40 million in claims to Medicare based on doctors' orders containing materially false representations, for which Medicare paid more than $27 million.

U.S. Attorney Frazer credited the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts, under the direction of U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley; special agents of the U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Jessica Herrington, Northeastern Field Office; special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge David R. Fitzgibbons, in Birmingham, Alabama; special agents of the U.S. Department of Labor-Employee Benefits Security Administration, under the direction of Regional Director Crystal Coleman; and special agents of the Tennessee Valley Authority, Office of the Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Ryan Wilson, with the investigation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen P. O'Leary of the Health Care Fraud and Opioids Enforcement Unit.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (Fraud Division). The Fraud Division is investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department's work to combat fraud supports President Trump's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.

###

Defense counsel: Elizabeth L. Mo, Esq.