A Georgia resident has been sentenced to 46 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $7.2 million in restitution for his involvement in a Medicare fraud scheme involving illegal kickbacks related to unnecessary genetic testing.
Court documents state that Patrick C. Moore Jr., 48, of Peachtree City, orchestrated a network of recruiters who persuaded Medicare beneficiaries to undergo genetic tests that were not medically necessary or eligible for reimbursement. Moore received about $4.3 million in kickbacks and bribes from co-conspirators for referring beneficiary insurance information, DNA samples, and doctors’ orders for these tests. He then paid illegal kickbacks to his recruiters and attempted to hide the payments by creating false invoices that disguised the per-referral nature of the transactions.
Laboratories connected with Moore and others billed Medicare roughly $24 million for these unnecessary tests and received approximately $7.2 million in payments on claims resulting from the scheme.
Moore pleaded guilty in May 2025 to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks.
The announcement was made by Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Margaret Heap for the Southern District of Georgia; Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Dallas Regional Office; Special Agent in Charge Kelly Blackmon of HHS-OIG Atlanta Regional Office; and Special Agent in Charge Paul W. Brown of the FBI Atlanta Field Office.
“The HHS-OIG and FBI investigated the case.”
Trial Attorneys Ethan Womble and Benjamin Smith from the Justice Department’s Fraud Section, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Thompson from the Southern District of Georgia, prosecuted this case.
The Justice Department’s Fraud Section leads efforts against health care fraud through its Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, which operates nine strike forces across 27 federal districts. Since its inception in March 2007, more than 5,800 defendants have been charged with billing federal health care programs and private insurers over $30 billion collectively through fraudulent schemes. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is also working with HHS-OIG to hold providers accountable for their roles in such activities. More details are available at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.
