Florida lab VP convicted of billing Medicare over $15m in COVID-19 testing fraud
A federal jury has convicted the vice president of a Florida testing laboratory over a pandemic-era scheme that attached unnecessary blood tests to COVID-19 testing events at residence country clubs. The case shows how DOJ's new Fraud Division and the Health Care Fraud Strike Force are pursuing providers who exploited pandemic testing demand, and sets out the billing figures and charges the jury returned.
- Jury convicted Joseph Rodriguez of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and six substantive counts of health care fraud.
- Testing events at nine clubs over about four months involved almost 2,000 patients; Medicare billed over $15 million and paid over $500,000.
- Rodriguez faces a maximum of 10 years per count, with sentencing scheduled for a later date in January 2027.
Executive summary
A federal jury in the Southern District of Florida convicted Joseph Rodriguez, 58, of Coral Springs, of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and six substantive counts of health care fraud, the Justice Department announced. The verdict was returned the…
The executive summary, the full reported briefing, the analysis and the counterpoint are for subscribers — as is the audio.
You are not charged for 3 days and you can cancel at any time. Already subscribe? Sign in to hear this and everything else published today.
subscribers: executive summary · reported briefing · analysis · counterpoint · what to do · audio · video
Source documents
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-laboratory-vice-president-and-marketer-convicted-medicare-fraud-covid-19-testingRead by Regulus 15 Oct 2026 at 06:07 UTC
19 factual claims checked against this document · 0 unsupported
Cited and linked; extract quoted under fair dealing