Aiken man sentenced in federal TRICARE health care fraud case

Bianca Moorman, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·1 min read
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Aug. 14—An Aiken man will spend more than two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to health care fraud.

Travis Anthony Mason, 52, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Anderson to 31 months in federal prison after being convicted of health care fraud, according to a media release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina.

Mason was ordered to a three-year term of court-ordered supervision, is ineligible for parole in the federal system and was ordered to pay $1,966,194 in restitution.

Court evidence showed that Mason through his company M3 Medical LLC was involved in the marketing and sale of prescription compounded medications such as pain creams.

Investigators said Mason and his coconspirators targeted individuals with federally funded health insurance plans such as TRICARE, which provided benefits for compounded prescriptions, the release said.

The defendants would obtain prescriptions for compounded medications that were unnecessary from a physician and would also direct that these prescriptions be filled by specific compounding pharmacies, the release said.

Mason and his coconspirators knew the medications would yield high reimbursement and Mason paid a percentage of the reimbursement amount for every compounded prescription that was filled

For two years, Mason and his coconspirators caused over $1,966,194 in loss to TRICARE, the release said.

"Fraud of healthcare programs steals resources from people who need care and, in this case, from men and women who have bravely served our nation," U.S. Attorney Adair F. Boroughs said in a media release.

The Department of Defense Office of Inspector General Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the FBI investigated the case, while it was prosecuted by assistant U.S. Attorney Amy F.Bower.