Genetic Testing Fraud, Kickback Scheme Friday, Share Facebook — Marketer Sentenced for $11.5M Genetic Testing Fraud and Kickback Scheme | United States Justice Department.
Updated September 19, 2025 Topic Health Care Fraud Components Criminal Division Criminal – Criminal Fraud Section announcement Number: 25-794. Desselle personally earned over $2.1 million from the alleged scheme.The Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) investigated the case.Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank for HHS-OIG made the announcement.Trial Attorney Charles D. Desselle paid other marketers, who were not medical professionals, to recruit vulnerable Medicare beneficiaries at grocery stores, pharmacies, or car
dealerships and persuade them to take the tests using deceptive methods. Medicare paid out $4.5 million on these claims. Strauss of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case.The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. From June 2018 to December 2020, Desselle and his co-conspirators caused the laboratories to bill $11.5 million to Medicare. Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of nine strike forces operating in 27 federal districts, has accused more than 5,800 defendants who collectively
have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $30 billion. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit. Desselle then bribed a telemedicine company to supply doctors’ orders for the tests. The orders and test kits were then sent to clinical laboratories who paid Desselle and his co-conspirators kickbacks in exchange for the referrals. Desselle entered a guilty plea in February 2025. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold