A McAllen man accused of accepting more than $700,000 in bribes and carrying out a Medicare kickback scheme pleaded guilty in federal court Friday.
Chismere Mallard, the former manager of CLS Devices LLC, pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to solicit or receive illegal remunerations, a charge tied to allegations of a Medicare kickback scheme that allegedly also involved an unnamed doctor, the doctor’s son, and two employees of the doctor’s clinic, according to criminal information filed last month.
As part of the agreement, Mallard pleaded guilty to the allegations, admitted he was bribed with approximately $766,310, and agreed to pay back that amount.
In exchange for pleading guilty, attorneys for the government will recommend to decrease the level of his offense by two levels if he “clearly demonstrates acceptance of responsibility,” according to the agreement. They will also recommend that Mallard be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of no more than the bottom of the applicable guideline range.
Under federal statutes, violations of the Anti-Kickback statute are punishable by up to five years in federal prison, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s office.
The alleged scheme began around 2014 when Mallard made an arrangement with the doctor and his son through which the doctor would order toxicology tests from companies where Mallard worked as an account representative. From the money Mallard made from those tests, he would allegedly then pay kickbacks to the doctor and his son.
The two clinic employees also allegedly took part by directing those toxicology tests that were ordered by the doctor to those companies and, in exchange, they also were paid kickbacks, according to the criminal information.
In 2016, they allegedly took part in another scheme involving prescription compound medication.
The doctor would allegedly write prescriptions for compound medication that would be sent by the two clinic employees to an unnamed pharmacy where Mallard worked. Some of those prescriptions were written for patients that were Medicare beneficiaries.
In turn, the pharmacy would pay Mallard a commission from which he would be required to pay a kickback to the doctor and his son.
Mallard is also tied to another kickback scheme involving the referral of genetic testing. In December 2019, he and eleven others from California, Arizona and Texas were charged for their alleged involvement in that scheme.
On Friday, he pleaded guilty to the allegations related to that conspiracy as well, admitting to receiving about $710,058 from it.
U.S. District Judge Randy Crane scheduled Mallard to be sentenced Dec. 14.
