Poker Player Accused of $88 Million Healthcare Scam

08:15
24 Jun

Billy Joe Taylor, a 42-year-old poker player from Arkansas, has been indicted for defrauding the US healthcare system of an eye-watering $88 million. The guy once described as a “special kind of fish” is one of the suspects in a $143 million case.

The man nicknamed “Bildo” was well-known in poker circles for his starring role in a $5,000 NL cash game that was streamed on TCH Live. He was seen as an action player who didn’t appear to have much in the way of skill, to put it mildly. But if he was making so much from his healthcare testing exploits then it probably didn’t bother him too much! Damn shame he’s going to have to pay it all back now.

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Dodgy COVID-19 Tests

Taylor’s part in this case centres around his ownership of two medical testing laboratories. The two Californian businesses in Barling and Torrance appear to have been created as shell companies that weren’t even properly functioning labs.

Dating back as far as November 2017, names and social security numbers were acquired of people who were eligible for government-funded tests and then fraudulent invoices were billed to Medicare. Many of these people had already died when the alleged tests were supposed to have taken place, and names of doctors were used for tests that were never even requested.

The US Department of Justice claims that of the $88 million sum, $42 million was for COVID-19 tests that took advantage of government incentives. These tests likely did not take place, as one of the labs didn’t even have the equipment necessary to perform the tasks.

Acting US Attorney David Clay Fowlkes said:

“While the COVID-19 pandemic was raging, and Americans were suffering from the economic and health crisis brought on by this pandemic, these defendants were allegedly scheming to steal millions of dollars set aside to help ailing Americans through COVID-19 testing and other federal healthcare programs.”

Although Taylor’s fines could total millions of dollars, his potential prison time might only be as long as five years. Given the seriousness of this kind of crime and that it took place in the US this is quite surprising.