Ike Okeke

On October 15, 2008, Ike Okeke was indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to cause the submission of false claims, health care fraud, and money laundering. Investigators believe that through his company, Okeke billed Medicare for more than $1.5 million for durable medical equipment (DME) that was either medically unnecessary or was never provided.

Okeke owned and operated RAMA Medical Supplies Inc., a DME company located in Raleigh, North Carolina, that purportedly provided motorized wheelchairs, scooters, ankle gauntlets, rigid support braces, and other supplies to Medicare beneficiaries. According to the indictment, Okeke allegedly recruited, trained, or had others recruit and train salespersons to establish relationships with Medicare beneficiaries to obtain their Medicare numbers and other personal information. Once they obtained it, the salespersons allegedly processed "prescriptions," which were purportedly signed by physicians from outside the State and billed to Medicare.

However, investigators interviewed several physicians whose names were used as the referring physicians, and all but one had never heard of RAMA, did not know the patients for whom RAMA was submitting claims, and never ordered any DME from RAMA.

In cases where DME may have been provided to a beneficiary, even if there was no medical need, Okeke allegedly billed Medicare for more expensive DME than was supplied, such as billing Medicare for a power wheelchair and then providing a scooter.