A federal grand jury in Greenville returned a 16-count indictment on Mar. 11 charging Kevin S. Murdock, Thomas C. Lee, and Vidhya V. Narayanan with health care fraud and conspiracy to commit health care fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The case centers on allegations that the three defendants engaged in a scheme to defraud health care benefit programs of millions of dollars during the COVID-19 pandemic. The indictment states that Murdock owned and operated Premier Medical Laboratory Services in Greenville, where Lee and Narayanan were high-level employees.
According to prosecutors, Premier Medical Laboratory Services offered diagnostic testing services for medical providers, including COVID-19 tests. The indictment alleges that the defendants submitted false claims to the federal government by billing for individual tests when samples had actually been pooled together for faster processing. Additionally, they are accused of manipulating test processing software to bill for tests that were virtually worthless and not eligible for reimbursement.
Each defendant faces up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted, along with a fine of up to $250,000 and three years of supervised release following any prison term. Murdock previously agreed to a consent judgment of $27,544,460 after acknowledging there was a likelihood he would be found liable in a civil action brought by the United States and several states under various false claims statutes.
The investigation was conducted by multiple agencies including the FBI Columbia Field Office, Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and South Carolina Attorney General’s Office’s Vulnerable Adults and Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Watkins is prosecuting the case.
Authorities emphasized that all charges are accusations at this stage and that all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
