A licensed Anaheim Hills acupuncturist pleaded guilty Friday to federal criminal charges and admitted fraudulently billing Amtrak’s healthcare plan for millions of dollars’ worth of acupuncture, massages and facials that either were medically unnecessary or were never provided.
Guiqiong Xiao “Kimi” Gudmundsen, 52, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court to one count of healthcare fraud and one count of money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Gudmundsen owned Healthy Life Acupuncture Center, which operated in Riverside and Los Angeles. From January 2008 until December 2015, Gudmundsen recruited Amtrak employees to visit Healthy Life and then, among other things, billed the Amtrak healthcare plan for acupuncture, which she knew wasn’t being provided, according to her plea agreement.
She also admitted to billing the health plan for medically unnecessary services such as massages and facials, as well as for work-related injuries she knew the Amtrak plan did not cover. She also provided medical services to non-Amtrak healthcare plan participants then billed the plan for it under the name of an actual Amtrak plan participant, the plea agreement states.
She admitted that she regularly waived co-payments, co-insurance and deductibles for Amtrak healthcare plan participants, something the plan did not permit.
She also knowingly and routinely funneled her ill-gotten gains through bank accounts opened in the names of a shell company and her relatives, according to the plea agreement.
The government estimates the total loss to the Amtrak health plan to be at least $3.8 million. U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee has scheduled a Jan. 22 sentencing hearing, at which time Gudmundsen will face up to 30 years in federal prison, prosecutors noted.
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