The U.S. Attorney’s Office is seeking more than $17 million in money judgments against the seven defendants convicted in the Forest Park Medical Center bribery trial in April, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Erin Nealy Cox.

Each defendant played a role in the $200 million kickback scheme, designed to induce doctors to steer lucrative patients – particularly those with high-reimbursing, out-of-network private insurance – to the now defunct hospital. The majority of the kickbacks, which totaled more than $40 million, were disguised as consulting fees or “marketing money” doled as a percentage of surgeries each doctor referred to Forest Park.

Hospital manager Alan Beauchamp, who testified for the government, admitted that Forest Park “bought surgeries,” and then “papered it up to make it look good.” (READ MORE)