Is Wagner Intervention a body broker?
A new form of medical fraud has popped up, and I may have found one culprit
Note: the target of the scheme asked me to use a pseudonym. As such, he is being called James.
The 2021 movie Body Brokers is about a scheme to fraudulently put people into an addiction rehabilitation center for kickbacks and other illegal payments.
The movie is based on reality. In South California, both the US Department of Justice (USDOJ) and local District Attorneys (DA) have busted real body brokers.
Here is part of one USDOJ press release.
The owner and operator of addiction treatment facilities in Orange County is expected to be arraigned today on a federal grand jury indictment alleging he paid nearly $175,000 in illegal kickbacks to so-called “body brokers” in exchange for finding him new patients.
Scott Raffa, 57, of Newport Beach, was arrested Saturday at Los Angeles International Airport. He is scheduled for arraignment this afternoon in United States District Court in Santa Ana. Raffa is charged with 12 counts of illegal remunerations for referrals to clinical treatment facilities.
According to the indictment that a grand jury returned on April 10, Raffa operated Orange County-based sober living homes, including Sober Partners Waterfront Recovery Center, Sober Partners Reef House, and Sober Partners Beach House. These facilities treated patient populations that received health care benefits through health insurers.
Raffa allegedly paid thousands of dollars per patient in illegal kickbacks to individuals who referred patients to his facilities, a practice known as “body brokering.” The body brokers in this case each controlled their own business entities and Raffa allegedly paid them kickbacks by depositing checks or wiring money to bank accounts that the brokers controlled. The kickbacks were intended as compensation for the brokers referring patients and to induce the brokers to continue to refer patients to Raffa’s facilities, the indictment alleges.
Another USDOJ press release described a similar scheme.
A federal jury convicted a California man this week for paying illegal kickbacks for patient referrals to his addiction treatment facilities located in Orange County, California.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Casey Mahoney, 48, of Los Angeles, paid nearly $2.9 million in illegal kickbacks to so-called “body brokers” who referred patients to Mahoney’s addiction treatment facilities, Healing Path Detox LLC and Get Real Recovery Inc. Those body brokers in turn paid thousands of dollars in cash to patients, which some patients used to purchase drugs, in order to induce those patients to attend treatment at Mahoney’s facilities. Mahoney concealed the illegal kickbacks by entering into sham contracts with the body brokers which purportedly required fixed payments and prohibited payments based off of the volume or value of the patient referrals. In reality, Mahoney and the brokers negotiated payments based on the patients’ insurance reimbursements and the number of days Mahoney was able to bill for treatment. Mahoney also laundered the proceeds of the conspiracy through payments to the mother of one of the body brokers, which Mahoney falsely characterized as consulting fees.
Mahoney was convicted of one count of conspiracy to solicit, receive, pay, or offer illegal remunerations for patient referrals, seven counts of illegal remunerations for patient referrals, and three counts of money laundering. Mahoney is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 17, 2025, and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on the conspiracy charge, 10 years in prison on each illegal remuneration count, and 20 years in prison on each money laundering count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office has also busted body brokers.
A Beverly Hills surgeon has been sentenced to 10 years in state prison for stealing nearly $38 million in an elaborate insurance fraud scheme that involved hiring body brokers to pay patients at Southern California sober living homes to undergo medically unnecessary surgeries, medical testing, and other medical procedures. This is the largest prison sentence for a provider in California workers’ compensation insurance fraud.
Dr. Randy Rosen pleaded guilty on August 12, 2022 to eight felony counts of insurance fraud and two aggravated white collar crime enhancements for a loss over $500,000 in two separate cases in connection with recruiting and hiring numerous body brokers to find and pay patients to have medically unnecessary Naltrexone implant surgeries and cortisone shots.
Rosen was ordered to pay $9.1 million in restitution and lifted more than $22.35 million in outstanding workers’ compensation liens which frees that money for other injured workers.
“James” described being subjected to a similar scheme in 2023. On a Friday in March 2023, he said that he collapsed in “excruciating pain.” He said he was in and out of consciousness for the next several days. He pieced the story together afterwards.
A neighbor called his ex-wife, who is a registered nurse. His ex-wife called Wagner, who called Solution Point, a rehabilitation facility to reserve a bed.
Wagner and Solution Point did not respond to emails for comment.
Solution Point is several hours from his home in Los Angeles. Wagner and his ex-wife took turns driving James to Solution Point.
At Solution Point, it was determined that James was too sick for the rehabilitation facility and was instead transferred to a hospital, where he still was not fully conscience.
While James was in the hospital, his ex-wife called his mom who was out of country and convinced her that James needed long term drug rehabilitation.
She asked for money.
This was a lie because the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandated that all rehabilitation facilities are required to take insurance.
Throughout the weekend, while James was still not conscience, both Wagner and his ex-wife, were in constant contact with his mom, trying to get money.
“During those two days {the weekend} Wagner and {my ex-wife} continue the pressure campaign on my mom that I need to go to detox,” James said, knowing that he was in the hospital already going through detox.
James’ mom eventually wired $15,000- only some of which he recovered- as a result of this pressure campaign.
James said that he did not talk to his mom until the following Monday.
James told his mom that he was misusing ketamine, but that it was for pain management; he was receiving treatment for his kidney.
After this conversation, his mom understood she was being scammed.
Even after James awoke and spoke this his mom, he said both Wagner and his ex-wife tried to convince him he needed Solution Point.
He described one interaction with Wagner.
“He comes the day I’m supposed to be released,” James said.
Wagner then tried to convince him he needed to go to rehab.
James asked Wagner what was going to happen at Solution Point.
“He {Wagner} could not answer the simplest question about his alleged subject matter expertise,” James said.
Who is Joe Wagner
Joe Wagner runs Wagner Interventions, which has been in business since 2007, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office.
According to their website, Wagner Intervention provides numerous addiction recovery programs.
He claims to have “conducted interventions for hundreds of families over the past decade.” according to the website. He previously claimed that to have done over 1,500 interventions.
That statistic is both unverified and hard to believe, because, according to the California Secretary of State’s website, Wagner Intervention hasn’t been in good standing long enough.
Though the company opened in 2007, it has faced repeated shutdowns and suspensions.
The agent for Wagner Intervention is Genna Allman, a certified public accountant (CPA). I reached out to Ms. Allman by email but received no response.
Furthermore, while Wagner claims on his website to have several certifications, that is also misleading. He lists two certifications on his website.
The California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals (CCAPP) certification has lapsed.
Post-script
Check out the fundraiser for Orange County, and here are the previous articles in the series. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8. Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25. Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30, Part 31, Part 33, Part 34, Part 35, Part 36, Part 37, Part 38, Part 39, Part 40, Part 41, Part 42, Part 43, Part 44, Part 45, Part 46, Part 47, Part 48, Part 49, Part 50, Part 51, Part 52, Part 53, Part 54, Part 55, and Part 56.
