Carlos Arguello will serve 48 months in prison and give up $1.2 million in proceeds for participating in a $5 million kickback scheme. He and co-defendant Fermin Iglesias used a company called Providence Scheduling to steer patients to providers, which were required to meet quotas for services that were provided by other participants in the cross-referral scheme. Arguello pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge back in August 2016.
Providence sent patients to providers that were required to order services from companies owned or controlled by Iglesias, including Medex Solutions Inc., Meridian Medical Resources Inc. and Prime Holdings International. Arguello will also serve three years on supervised release.
Iglesias was sentenced to a five-year prison term at Taft Correctional Institute in February. He was also ordered to forfeit $1.005 million in proceeds after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to deprive patients of the right to the honest services of their doctors in December 2016. Further, he signed a deferred prosecution agreement on behalf of Prime Holdings, and agreed to pay $500,000 in exchange for the dismissal of all charges against Prime, Meridian, and Medex.
An administrator for Iglesias’ companies, Miguel Morales, pleaded guilty in 2017 to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services mail and wire fraud. He was ordered to forfeit $140,000 in criminal proceeds and serve one year and one day in prison.
Iglesias and Arguello still face charges in Orange County for allegedly running a similar pay-for-play scheme with Providence Scheduling that also included at least 10 applicants’ attorneys. Arguello has agreed to plead guilty as part of a deal with prosecutors. Iglesias has pleaded not guilty.