New orleans Psychiatrist guilty of defrauding government
April 18, 2008 12:45 am Fraud, News, Psychiatrist| 4/17/2008, 8:59 a.m. CDT The Associated Press |
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A psychiatrist has been convicted on 39 counts of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid over five years by billing the government for services she did not perform.
A federal jury also decided late Wednesday that Dr. Maria Carmen Palazzo must repay the government more than $500,000. She faces up to 10 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon set sentencing for early July.
Palazzo’s home in New Orleans was raided in November 2004 by federal and state agents. The raid culminated a three-year investigation that U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said had uncovered fraud dating back to August 2000.