An Anchorage physician and her husband have pleaded guilty to charges involving a $12.5 million health care fraud scheme and evasion of over $4 million in taxes. Dr. Claribel Tan, 61, and Daniel Tan, 70, operated a rheumatology clinic in Anchorage where they carried out the fraudulent activities.
According to court documents, Dr. Tan specialized in treating autoimmune and musculoskeletal diseases and prescribed injectable medications for these conditions. Mr. Tan handled office management tasks at the clinic. The couple deceived patients about the medications administered by injection and billed insurance companies for drugs that were never purchased.
Beginning in 2009, Dr. Tan routinely underdosed patients or injected them with free samples, expired medication, or drugs bought for other patients while billing insurers as if full doses had been given. They claimed to have administered 4,829 units of medication but only purchased 369 units.
Daniel Tan contributed by submitting fraudulent insurance claims and ordering insufficient quantities of medication. The couple also submitted false statements about appointment durations and billed for services not provided. Their actions created significant health risks for patients and led to losses totaling approximately $12,522,446 across more than ten insurance plans.
The Tans also engaged in tax fraud by creating false records to hide their scheme. They overstated expenses on tax returns for several years to underreport income and failed to file returns from 2018 through 2021, resulting in an estimated loss of $4,249,509 to the IRS.
Authorities seized about $10.47 million from the Tans between 2024 and 2025 as proceeds from the fraud (https://www.justice.gov/usao-ak/united-states-v-tan-et-al). As part of their plea agreements, they agreed to forfeit these funds and pay an additional $6.3 million toward restitution plus another $1.85 million to settle civil claims under the False Claims Act related to their conduct. Dr. Tan has surrendered her medical license.
Sentencing will take place at a later date; each defendant faces up to ten years in prison for health care fraud and five years for tax fraud. Sentences will be determined by a federal judge based on statutory guidelines.
"U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman of the District of Alaska, Special Agent in Charge John Helsing, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Western Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Carrie Nordyke of the IRS Criminal Investigation Seattle Field Office made the announcement."
The investigation involved multiple agencies including DCIS Western Field Office, IRS Criminal Investigation Seattle Division, FBI Anchorage Field Office, Defense Contract Audit Agency, Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General Criminal Investigations Division, Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration, Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations and State of Alaska Division of Insurance Investigation Unit.
Trial Attorney Dominick Giovanniello from the Tax Division along with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Seth Beausang and William Reed prosecuted the case; Assistant U.S. Attorney Jackie Traini led the civil fraud investigation.
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