A Fort Worth federal jury convicted a Frisco counselor of operating a healthcare fraud and kickback scheme that collected more than $17 million from the military’s insurance program and used the proceeds to finance luxury purchases, including a gold-plated Tesla Cybertruck, according to federal court documents and trial evidence.
Kevin Darnell Curry, 64, owner and operator of mental health clinics in Texas and Florida, was found guilty on all nine counts: three counts of healthcare fraud, three counts of offering or paying illegal kickbacks and three counts of engaging in transactions involving criminal proceeds.
The Sept. 24 verdict followed a trial in the Northern District of Texas federal court in Fort Worth. According to the Justice Department, Curry faces up to 10 years in prison per count. A sentencing date has not yet been announced.
Prosecutors said Curry’s clinics submitted more than $26 million in fraudulent and kickback-tainted claims to TRICARE for transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to treat depression. According to the indictment, the claims were “among other things, not provided, not provided as represented, medically unnecessary, induced by the payment of illegal kickbacks and bribes, and/or otherwise ineligible for reimbursement by TRICARE.”
TRICARE paid about $17.1 million for those claims, the indictment said.
According to court records and prosecutors, Curry paid more than $5.5 million in kickbacks to persuade service members, veterans and family members to consent to treatments they did not qualify for and, in many cases, never received.
Curry spent at least some of the proceeds of the fraud on furniture, luxury shopping, five-star hotels, casino-themed events and a gold-plated 2024 Tesla Cybertruck valued at more than $100,000, prosecutors said.
Assets valued at more than $200,000 were seized as part of the case, including $136,022 in cash and the Tesla Cybertruck.
“Kevin Curry shamelessly preyed on the trust of servicemembers, veterans, and their families, siphoning millions from TRICARE through lies and coercion,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould of the Northern District of Texas said in a statement. “He fabricated medical records, stole doctors’ identities and clogged the system with fraudulent claims, all while lining his pockets with kickback‑tainted money.”
“This defendant exploited a critical health care program serving active-duty servicemembers and their families, diverting taxpayer dollars to bankroll personal luxuries ranging from hotel stays to a casino-themed party and even a gold‑plated Tesla Cybertruck,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Department of Justice’s National Fraud Enforcement Division. “Such conduct is an affront to the military community and the American public.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Womble for the Northern District of Texas and federal trial attorneys Adam Tisdall and Yael Mash of the DOJ fraud division’s healthcare fraud section prosecuted the case. Federal public defenders Eduardo Carranza and Michael A. Lehmann represented Curry.
Curry’s case was part of a broader national healthcare crackdown announced in June, which included a dozen defendants in the Northern District of Texas. According to prosecutors, the seven cases involved more than $365 million in alleged misappropriated funds intended to serve vulnerable populations, including elderly Medicare beneficiaries and military members. As part of the coordinated enforcement efforts, the government seized more than $35 million in cash, luxury vehicles and other assets.
Besides Curry, other defendants who faced charges in other unconnected healthcare fraud schemes included the following:
Devin Jack Brodman, 32, of Coconut Creek, Florida, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States by paying and receiving kickbacks in connection with submitting fraudulent claims to Medicare for laboratory testing services, including genetic testing, from two North Texas labs.
Brodman, who co-owned Neva Diagnostics in Farmers Branch and Areahou Diagnostics in Dallas, billed Medicare for laboratory testing services that were ineligible for reimbursement and were ordered and procured through kickbacks and bribes. He concealed the submission of the fraudulent claims to Medicare. In total, the two labs billed Medicare approximately $65.5 million for laboratory testing services and were paid approximately $43 million.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Marty Basu of the Northern District of Texas.
Mark P. Thomas of McDermott Will & Schulte in Dallas represented Brodman.
Dr. Olubayo Idowu, 75, of DeSoto, Dr. James Lou Carlisle Jr., 53, of Southlake, and nurse practitioner Vaughn Anthony Brozek, 56, of Hurst were accused of accepting kickbacks tied to medically unnecessary brainwave testing in a case involving more than $25 million in claims, according to an indictment. The defendants allegedly conspired to unlawfully enrich themselves from 2020 until at least 2023 by accepting kickbacks and bribes for medically unnecessary patient EEG testing.
Idowu pleaded guilty in December 2025 to conspiring to unlawfully enrich himself by submitting false claims. A presentence report has been scheduled to be disclosed Oct. 2. Eric Durojaiye and Patrick J. McLain, both in Dallas, represent Idowu.
Carlisle and Brozek pleaded not guilty. A trial has been scheduled for March 22 next year. Joshua Stewart Graham of North Richland Hills represents Brozek, and Greg Westfall of Cantey Hanger in Fort Worth represents Carlisle.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Douglas B. Brasher of the Northern District of Texas.
Catherine Nkeiru Maduka, 66, of Garland, owner and CEO of Saint Catherine’s Hospice, has been accused of recruiting patients ineligible for hospice care and billing for more than $3.1 million for services never provided, according to an indictment.
Maduka filed a motion to dismiss the indictment. The motion, however, was denied by Chief U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor.
Assistant United States Attorney Douglas B. Brasher of the Northern District of Texas serves as the prosecutor.
Maduka is represented by Jonathan Meltz of the Chapman Law Group in Miami, Florida, and by Libo Agwara and Wendilee Walpole Lassiter in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Jason Charles Mareno, 52, of Irving, Duc Ngoc Ly, also known as Michael Ly, 52, of Frisco, David Lee Lloyd, 56, of Meridian, Mississippi, and Jason Kashou, 40, of Coral Springs, Florida, have been charged in an indictment with conspiracy to violate the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute in connection with a scheme to bill Medicare for COVID-19 test kits.
The indictment alleged that the defendants provided Medicare beneficiary information to two coconspirators who owned laboratories. The information was used to bill Medicare for COVID-19 test kits sent to beneficiaries who had not requested them — in some instances, the beneficiaries had died. The lab owners then paid the defendants a portion of the Medicare reimbursement in cash and through a series of financial transactions designed to conceal the kickbacks. Prosecutors alleged that the defendants and their coconspirators caused more than $73 million in fraudulent claims to be submitted to Medicare for COVID-19 test kits.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Douglas B. Brasher of the Northern District of Texas.
Roberts pleaded guilty to conspiracy to solicit or receive kickbacks for referrals, facing a maximum five-year prison term. Craig B. Florence, Lea James and Jason Paul Mehta of Foley & Lardner in Dallas represent Roberts.
Ly, Lloyd, Kashou and Mareno have pleaded not guilty. A trial date has been set for Feb. 8 next year.
Jeffrey J. Ansley of Barnes & Thornburg in Dallas represents Ly.
Cynthia Steward of Madison, Mississippi, represents Lloyd.
Stephen Fahey of Fort Worth represents Kashou. Jennifer Leigh Falk, Alexis Elizabeth Ann Fowler, Daniel Kevin Hagood and Alexandra Hunt of McCathern in Dallas and Stephen Le Brocq of Carrollton represent Mareno.
Michael McMillan, 55, of Las Vegas, Nevada, paid about $94 million in kickbacks to medical providers in a scheme for Medicare and other federal healthcare benefit programs to pay out some $268 million in false and fraudulent wound care-related claims, according to an indictment.
The indictment alleged that McMillan, the owner of Protectus LLC and related entities, offered various skin substitute products to physicians and other medical providers under an illegal kickback arrangement that guaranteed they would profit thousands of dollars for every skin substitute claim they billed to government programs. Disguising the kickbacks as rebates or discounts, McMillan and Protectus received approximately $174 million for the $268 million in skin substitute claims.
The indictment alleged that the proceeds funded a lavish lifestyle that included the purchase of houses, condominiums, luxury vehicles and a private jet. Assets valued at approximately $35 million were seized as part of the case, prosecutors said.
McMillan has pleaded not guilty, and a trial has been designated as complex and set for Sept. 27, 2027. Michael Charles Elliott and Mindy Sauter of McGuireWoods in Dallas represent McMillan.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Marty Basu and Chad Meacham of the Northern District of Texas.
Neel Vivek Paithankar, 25, of Irving was charged by indictment with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud in connection with a scheme to submit about $2.3 million of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary durable medical equipment (DME).
The indictment alleged that Paithankar, owner of VMP Health Care LLC, facilitated the solicitation of Medicare beneficiaries by telemarketers posing as Medicare representatives and offering free DME. He then shipped the DME to Medicare beneficiaries who either did not need or did not want the products. In total, VMP submitted approximately 3,700 false claims to Medicare, which paid $1.2 million to 1,086 beneficiaries for DME that was not needed, according to the indictment.
Paithankar pleaded not guilty, and a trial has been scheduled for Jan. 11, next year. Katherine L. Reed of Udashen Anton in Dallas represents Paithankar.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Elise Aldendifer of the Northern District of Texas.
In Kevin Curry’s federal healthcare fraud case, prosecutors said he falsely represented himself as a medical doctor and used physicians’ credentials without their knowledge or consent. According to the Justice Department, he also directed employees to fabricate medical records to justify billing.
His “principal place of business” was Acuity TMS of Plano. His clinics also included Acuity TMS of Fort Worth and Emerald Coast TMS of Fort Walton Beach, Florida. The indictment identified Webistics LLC, a Wyoming company controlled by Curry, as the managing member of those three clinics.
Prosecutors said the scheme ran from approximately September 2022 through December 2025. Nearly $26.9 million in claims were submitted between August 2023 and December 2025, and TRICARE paid at least $17 million.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation uses magnetic pulses to stimulate the brain’s cerebral cortex “to treat depression when other treatments had not worked,” according to the indictment. TRICARE had strict coverage requirements for patients with treatment-resistant depression, including a diagnosis of major depressive disorder and an evaluation by a TMS mental health provider after unsuccessful treatment with antidepressants and psychotherapy.
Prosecutors said Curry billed TRICARE for patients who did not meet the requirements.
The scheme also involved claims submitted through two medical billing companies, one in Richardson and the other in St. Charles, Missouri. The indictment identified them only as Company A and Company B and alleged that Curry caused them to submit false claims.
According to the indictment, three physicians whose credentials appeared on claims submitted without their knowledge or consent had not provided the services attributed to them. One physician lived in McKinney, another in Dallas and the third in Springfield, Ohio.
A fourth physician, also from McKinney, performed work under a contract with Curry. One of Curry’s convictions involved a $22,000 check to that physician. Two other convictions involved checks for $75,000 and $61,000 to the Richardson billing company.
The documents identified the physician and company by numbers or two-letter initials. Curry was the sole defendant named in the indictment. The payments detailed in his case do not show that their recipients knowingly participated in the fraud.
The jury also convicted Curry on kickback counts for separate payments of $1,000, $1,300 and $1,000 to three TRICARE beneficiaries who were not identified in the indictment.
Curry’s case, along with the six other healthcare fraud cases in the Northern District of Texas, was part of a 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown that resulted in charges against 455 defendants, including 90 doctors and other licensed medical professionals, for their alleged participation in healthcare fraud and opioid abuse schemes involving over $6.5 billion in false claims.
In the crackdown, fraud cases were filed in 56 federal districts and 45 U.S. states and territories. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services suspended 1,079 providers and revoked billing privileges for 1,403 providers.
“Through the tenacious work of our investigators, auditors, and inspectors, the VA OIG plays a vital role in combating healthcare fraud throughout the country,” said Inspector General Cheryl L. Mason, Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General. “Healthcare schemes steal taxpayer dollars and divert critical resources away from veterans.”
“The perpetrators of these fraud schemes billed Medicare and Medicaid for services that were either unnecessary or that were never provided to patients, in order to personally profit off of government-sponsored healthcare programs. These programs provide critical care and services to individuals in our communities that need it most,” said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to identify and investigate individuals responsible for defrauding government programs, costing taxpayers tens of billions of dollars annually.”