Attorney General James Announces Conviction and Sentencing of Suffolk County Transportation Company Owner for Stealing Over $1 Million from Medicaid

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced the conviction and sentencing of James Bessell, Sr., 65, of Shirley, New York for stealing more than $1 million from New York’s Medicaid program by taking advantage of vulnerable New Yorkers through fake billing and kickback schemes. As the owner and operator of the transportation company Jim Jim Rentals, Inc., (Jim Jim Rentals) Bessell was paid by Medicaid for coordinating the transportation of Medicaid recipients to and from their medical appointments. An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) revealed that Bessell submitted fake claims to Medicaid that included recipients who were revealed to be deceased, incarcerated, or hospitalized. Bessell was convicted of Grand Larceny in the First Degree, sentenced to one and a half to four and a half years in state prison, and paid $1.5 million in restitution.

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