TUCSON, Ariz. – Dr. Linh Cao Nguyen, a 51-year-old physician from Peoria, Arizona, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for orchestrating a multimillion-dollar health care fraud scheme. United States District Judge John C. Hinderaker issued the sentence last week, following Nguyen’s guilty plea to Health Care Fraud in March 2024.
Nguyen’s fraudulent activities targeted several health care benefit programs, including Medicare, TRICARE, Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), Blue Cross Blue Shield, and UnitedHealthcare. Over several years, Nguyen submitted thousands of false billing claims, manipulating records to show that a medical doctor was the treating provider when services were often delivered by nurse practitioners, social workers, or other non-physician staff. This misrepresentation allowed Nguyen to inflate his company’s payments from insurance providers.
The scheme resulted in a total loss of approximately $3.7 million to insurance companies. In addition to his prison sentence, Nguyen was ordered to pay over $1.1 million in restitution to the private insurance companies involved. Additionally, he agreed to a separate civil settlement with the government, totaling over $2.5 million.
The investigation was led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Defense’s Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, Tucson, managed the prosecution.
