Philip Esformes is notorious in the nursing home industry. The son of Morris Esformes, the Illinois and Florida nursing home magnate, Philip followed in his father’s line of work. Unfortunately, Mr. Philip Esformes is alleged to not play by the rules. In 2016, Philip Esformes was indicted in the largest ever alleged Medicare fraud case ($1 billion). Recently this year, Mr. Esformes faces new charges related to an attempted bribing of an AHCA (Agency for Healthcare Administration) official to learn what dirt the government agency had on his facilities. The Miami nursing home lawyers at Senior Justice Law Firm are currently investigating two separate Florida nursing home abuse cases against facilities owned by Philip Esformes.
Esformes’ Long History of Nursing Home Abuse Allegations
Allegations of fraud and corruption are nothing new for the Esformes family. Some of the allegations levied against the Esformeses related to their nursing homes include:
•1998: A Chicago Tribune investigation found that Morris Esformes had employed three people to scout shelters and hospitals for recruits to nursing facilities he and Philip Esformes controlled. Some of those homeless people caused violence in the homes and surrounding communities, the Tribune reported.
•2006: Without admitting wrongdoing, Philip and Morris Esformes joined a group of businessmen who paid $15.4 million to settle a U.S. Department of Justice Medicaid fraud civil lawsuit alleging they paid kickbacks to physicians in exchange for patient referrals to a Florida hospital they controlled.
•2009: The Tribune’s “Compromised Care” investigation found that violent felons had assaulted elderly and disabled residents in Esformes homes, including south suburban Burnham Healthcare. There, 63-year-old invalid Thomas Donovan died after beatings by fellow residents, the Tribune reported. No one was charged in Donovan’s death.
•2010: The Tribune used confidential FBI reports and interviews to show the Esformeses had been at the center of what prosecutors called a “horrific” patient-brokering scheme in which nursing home residents were shuttled to and from a Northern Illinois psychiatric hospital for unnecessary treatments. The Esformeses denied wrongdoing and were not among the medical professionals charged in that case. About two years later, the Esformeses sold their Illinois facilities and focused on their Florida operations.
•2013: Philip and Morris Esformes paid the U.S. government $5 million to settle a whistleblower’s court allegations that they took kickbacks to complete the sale of a nursing home pharmacy company.
•2016: The Department of Justice charges Philip Esformes with a $1 billion Medicare fraud, the largest in US history.
Esformes’ assets, including bank accounts, real estate and and luxury cars, were frozen after the U.S. attorney’s office obtained a temporary restraining order upon his arrest. According to an indictment, he is accused of exploiting his network of about 20 Miami-Dade skilled-nursing and assisted-living facilities to fleece the taxpayer-funded Medicare program by filing false claims for services that were not necessary or in some instances not provided over the past 14 years.
An unidentified local hospital referred some of the thousands of Medicare patients to his network through kickback payments to physicians and other medical professionals, according to the indictment. The Miami Herald has learned that it is Larkin Community Hospital in South Miami.
•2017: Philip Esformes faces allegations that he paid Gabriel Delgado, his trusted friend, thousands of dollars in bribe money to pay off AHCA officials to find out what dirt the State of Florida had on his nursing home facilities.
Philip Esformes: Currently in Lock Up
Fearing that he will flee the country, Federal Judge Edwin Torres denied Esformes’ request for a bond. He has been behind bars since the summer of 2016. On appeal, Judge Joan Leonard ordered Philip Esformes to return assets that he wrongfully transferred to his father, Morris Esformes. The Justice Department has moved to seize Philip Esformes’ Miami Beach mansion located at 5077 North Bay Road.
Nursing Home Ownership Has Been Good to Philip Esformes
Despite these repeated allegations of systemic nursing home abuse in his Florida facilities, kickbacks and fraud, Philip Esformes is reported to have assets worth almost $80 million due to his multiple nursing homes and ALF’s throughout Florida.
