Doctor at center of $40M Medicare kickback scheme sentenced to 3 years in prison
A doctor in Massachusetts who pleaded guilty in 2025 to healthcare fraud, stemming from a kickback scheme that submitted more than $40 million in bogus claims to Medicare and Tricare, the military medical coverage program, was sentenced this week to 36 months in federal prison.
Le Thu, MD, 71, of Boston pleaded guilty last summer to one count of conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, along with two counts of false statements related to healthcare matters. In addition to the three years behind bars, Thu will also have to pay $27 million in restitution and serve another 36 months of supervised release in the future, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.
Telehealth middlewoman
In facts revealed in court, Thu, an emergency medicine physician, received illegal incentive payments from a telemedicine company, in exchange for writing prescriptions for durable medical equipment and compounded medications that were later billed to the federal government.
For each prescription, Thu earned a $35 kickback, the DOJ said. The scheme lasted from May 2014 to April 2017, during which time the doctor admitted knowing the procured medical devices and drugs would go on to be billed to Tricare, as pharmacies filled orders from the telehealth group, approved by Thu as if she had examined the patients herself when she did not.
That was only one of two conspiracies. According to prosecutors, Thu conspired with multiple telehealth firms from March 2017 to November 2020, this time for orders of medical devices and genetic tests, which were then billed to Medicare.
Thu would sign, or instruct others to unwittingly sign, documents that falsified the need for these orders, making it seem as though they were based on determinations of medical necessity made by Thu herself. In some cases, the doctor would file paperwork for genetic tests to treat her own patients—though the tests were to fill orders made by telemedicine groups.
Thu never examined the patients, the DOJ added. As a kickback, she received more than $200,000 in payments, and Medicare was ultimately billed for $40 million in claims. The government paid out $27 million because it had been deceived by the fraudulent documentation.
The organizations submitting the reimbursement claims included durable medical device suppliers and labs that filled orders from the unnamed telemedicine companies. Thu made those transactions possible, authorities said.
Chad is an award-winning writer and editor with over 15 years of experience working in media. He has a decade-long professional background in healthcare, working as a writer and in public relations.