A 68-year-old Mission doctor was sentenced Wednesday to federal prison in connection with a $240 million health-care fraud and international money laundering scheme.
Jorge Zamora Quezada received a 10-year sentence, reduced by seven years for time served. He has also been forced to pay $28 million in reparations to taxpayer-supported insurance programs.
As previously reported, Quezada was convicted of conspiracy to commit health-care fraud in January 2020. He was also convicted of conspiracy to impede justice and seven counts of healthcare fraud.
Prosecutors claimed Zamora-Quezada gave unneeded medications, including cancer-treating medication, to at least 10,000 people he misdiagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and other degenerative diseases.
According to the indictment, Zamora-Quezada and his co-conspirators submitted $240 million in fraudulent claims to various health-care programs, with Zamora-Quezada receiving $50 million.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Texas, the medications Zamora-Quesada prescribed to patients that didn’t need them caused “debilitating side effects.” Side effects included strokes, necrosis of the jawbone, hair loss, liver damage, and “pain so severe that basic tasks of everyday life, such as bathing, cooking, and driving, became difficult.”
The trial took 25 days. According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, Zamora-Quezada was ordered to forfeit $28,245,454, which included 13 real estate properties, an aircraft, and a Maserati GranTurismo.
