Former GA Insurance Commissioner sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for healthcare fraud

ATLANTA — A federal judge sentenced Georgia’s former insurance commissioner, John Oxendine, to three and a half years in prison Friday.

Oxendine pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud in connection with unnecessary lab testing.

Prosecutors said from June 2016 to June 2016, Oxendine and Dr. Jeffrey Gallups pressured doctors to order unnecessary, expensive genetic and drug tests for patients.

A Texas lab called Next Health charged insurance companies and patients and gave the pair a portion of the profits.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said insurance companies paid Next Health $750,000.

Some patients received bills up to $18,000. Next Health then paid $260,000 in kickbacks to Oxendine and Gallups.

Gallups is currently serving his 33-month sentence in federal prison.

Before sentencing Oxendine Friday, Jones asked why he took part.

“You can always say there’s an element of greed, but to be honest, I just didn’t want to say no,” Oxendine said.

He said he wanted to please Gallups. He represented Gallups as a healthcare attorney and thought they were friends.

“I am a pleaser to the point, to my own detriment,” Oxendine said. “I betrayed all the stuff I fought for over the years.”

Prosecutors told the judge that Oxendine used his skills as an attorney and his connections as a former insurance commissioner to carry out the scheme.

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They asked the judge to punish him in a way that would deter others from abusing their positions of power.

Oxendine’s defense attorney Marissa Goldberg argued he was not in a position of trust at the time of the crime.

Goldberg added he was not acting as an attorney in the scheme.

“In this conspiracy, he was not acting as an attorney,” Goldberg said. “He collected checks.”

The judge disagreed and found that he did use his skills for the scheme.

“John Oxendine was motivated more by personal greed than his duty to patients and the citizens of Georgia whom he used to represent,” said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta.

Oxendine cried as he asked the judge for leniency.

“I betrayed all the stuff I fought for over the years,” Oxendine said.

“It obviously hurt him to the core,” Oxendine’s attorney Drew Findling said. “This really was just a fraction, a very, very small fraction, of John Oxendine’s professional life.”

He pointed to the dozens of letters the judge received in support of Oxendine’s work and character.

Two colleagues, a Macon attorney and a former aid from the insurance commission, spoke in front of the judge on his behalf.

His wife, Ivy Oxendine, sobbed as she asked the judge for a sentence that would allow him to recover.

“I’m asking you to see John the way I do,” Ivy Oxendine said. “John has been a Godly husband to me.”

He cried and held his hand over his eyes as she spoke about his children, grandchildren, and parents.

Ivy Oxendine said her husband admits he betrayed his oath and regrets it.

Before issuing his sentence, Jones told Oxendine there are three special things that stood out about him.

He’s a blessed family man with the support of former colleagues, voters trusted him in leadership for four terms and he had the opportunity to be a lawyer, charged with ensuring society is free.

“You gave all that up,” Jones said. “You threw it away.”

Jones said Oxendine hurt the sick and vulnerable and contributed to mistrust.

He sentenced him to 42 months in prison with three years’ supervised release.

He ordered him to pay a $25,000 fine and more than $760,000 in restitution to victims.

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