Tampa, Florida, was sentenced to five years and five months in federal prison for healthcare fraud, aggravated identity theft, submitting a fraudulent tax return, and failing to file an income tax return.
The court also ordered him to forfeit $2,257,029.86 in proceeds of the offence, as well as real property at 5346 Northdale Boulevard in Tampa. On December 1, 2021, Maywalt pleaded guilty.
Daywalt worked as a medical biller for a Clearwater corporation that offered credentialing and medical billing services to its medical provider clients, according to court filings.
Daywalt had access to the company’s financial, medical provider, and patient data while serving in this capacity.
Daywalt was assigned to a Tampa Bay area physician’s account (“Physician #1”) and was in charge of filing claims to Florida Medicaid Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) for services provided to Medicaid beneficiaries by Physician #1.
He abused his position as a medical biller by improperly accessing and using the company’s patient information, as well as Physician #1’s name and identification number, to file false and fraudulent claims with a Florida Medicaid HMO for medical services that were not actually rendered by Physician #1.
Daywalt also changed the HMO’s payment processor’s “pay to” information so that money for non-rendered medical services was transferred to Maywalt’s bank accounts.
Daywalt willfully signed and filed a false federal income tax return for the tax year 2019 that significantly underestimated his income and only showed his work salary, not the huge amount of money he was transferring into his bank accounts as a result of his illegal activities.
Daywalt also failed to file federal income tax forms for the years 2017 and 2018 as required by the IRS.
“Professionals in the healthcare field are obligated to follow Medicaid guidelines and appropriately bill for services that have been given.
“Billing Medicaid fraudulently for personal benefit defrauds millions of individuals who finance the programme and adds to the rising cost of health care,” said Omar Perez Aybar, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General.
“We will continue to prosecute individuals who abuse government health care, working closely with our law enforcement partners.”
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According to court documents, Maywalt worked as a medical biller for a Clearwater company that provided credentialing and medical billing services to its medical provider clients.
While in this position, Maywalt had access to the company’s financial, medical provider, and patient data.
Daywalt knowingly signed and filed a fraudulent federal income tax return for the tax year 2019 that greatly understated his income and only showed his employment compensation, not the vast sums of money he was illegally transferred into his bank accounts.
Daywalt also failed to file essential federal income tax returns for the years 2017 and 2018.
“Joshua Maywalt just cared about himself.” “He took advantage of medical patients’ personal information, illegally billed services on behalf of a local physician, and then defrauded the IRS for personal gain,” said Brian Payne, special agent in charge of the IRS-CI Tampa Field Office. “Fraud doesn’t pay in the end.”
It led to a five-year prison sentence and a multimillion-dollar forfeiture order in this instance.”
