Trial begins in massive Medicare fraud case

The trial against a Florida health care executive charged with running a scheme to defraud Medicare of $1 billion is underway. The defendant, Philip Esformes, ran a network of assisted living centers and nursing homes in Florida. Prosecutors say the decade-long scheme involved bribing doctors to refer patients to those facilities and moving patients to new facilities to keep them eligible for Medicare coverage. Esformes is also accused of taking kickbacks in exchange for referring patients to other providers who also charged the government for unnecessary care.

He has pleaded not guilty, but two other people involved in the alleged fraud have pleaded guilty. "He was the mastermind. ... The evidence will show he was involved every step of the way," Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Young said in opening statements yesterday, according to the AP.