Kevin Karl Wills Jr., 48, from Fort Lauderdale, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges related to a large-scale Medicare fraud operation. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, Wills and a co-conspirator ran a company that recruited marketers to illegally obtain the personal information of Medicare beneficiaries. These marketers would then provide the data to medical service providers, facilitating fraudulent COVID-19 test shipments to the beneficiaries.
In exchange, the providers paid kickbacks to Wills’ company and the marketers for each Medicare reimbursement claim that was successfully processed. This illegal kickback scheme ultimately led to approximately 152,000 fraudulent claims being submitted to Medicare, resulting in over $14.4 million in fraudulent reimbursements.
Wills personally received about $652,312 in kickbacks from this illicit operation, all of which he has agreed to forfeit to the government. The case also involves the Jacksonville-based company SWL Services, which purchased Medicare beneficiary information. SWL Services’ owners, Courtney Shauta’ Lewis and Latania Renee Smith-Washington, pleaded guilty in March 2024 and will be sentenced in December 2024. Marketer Noel Gary Beres, also implicated in the scheme, pleaded guilty in August 2024 and is scheduled for sentencing in April 2025.
