To comply with FTC regulations, all links could lead to commissions paid to the publisher. Please see Advertising Disclosure in sidebar.

MIAMI, FL – A Florida doctor was sentenced Monday, January 9, to 20 years in prison for engaging in a massive multi-year scheme to bill health care benefit programs for fraudulent tests and treatments for vulnerable patients seeking treatment for drug and/or alcohol addiction. This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice’s Sober Homes Initiative.
According to court documents, Michael J. Ligotti, D.O., 48, of Delray Beach, served as Medical Director or Authorizing Physician for over 50 sober homes, substance abuse treatment facilities, and clinical testing laboratories in the Palm Beach County area, often signing standing orders for expensive, medically unnecessary urine drug tests for patients at various addiction treatment facilities. These facilities routinely sent patients’ urine specimens to clinical testing laboratories, which then billed health care benefit programs for unnecessary urine drug tests, often thousands of dollars for a single test. In exchange for Ligotti’s authorization of these urine drug tests, the treatment centers required their patients to regularly visit Ligotti’s clinic, Whole Health LLC, for additional treatment and testing, or allowed Ligotti’s staff to come to their facilities to conduct tests and treatment there. This allowed Ligotti to profit by billing patients’ private health insurance plans for duplicative, medically unnecessary, and expensive urine drug tests, blood tests, and other addiction treatments. As a result of this conduct, which took place from 2011 to 2020, health care benefit programs were billed over $746 million and paid approximately $127 million for fraudulent urine drug tests and addiction treatments. Ligotti pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud in the Southern District of Florida in October 2022 and was ordered to surrender his medical license.
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting Special Agent in Charge Chad Yarbrough of the FBI Miami Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Mike Waters of the Amtrak Office of Inspector General’s Eastern Field Office made the announcement.
The FBI Miami Division Palm Beach Resident Agency, with assistance from DEA West Palm Beach Diversion Group; IRS Criminal Investigation Miami Field Office; Amtrak Office of Inspector General; United States Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA); Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Investigative and Forensic Services; and Palm Beach County Office of the State Attorney investigated the case.
FREE DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION: GET ONLY 'FEATURED' STORIES BY EMAIL
Big Tech is using a content filtering system for online censorship. Watch our short video about NewsGuard to learn how they control the narrative for the Lamestream Media and help keep you in the dark. NewsGuard works with Big-Tech to make it harder for you to find certain content they feel is 'missing context' or stories their editors deem "not in your best interest" - regardless of whether they are true and/or factually accurate. They also work with payment processors and ad-networks to cut off revenue streams to publications they rate poorly by their same bias standards. This should be criminal in America. You can bypass this third-world nonsense by signing up for featured stories by email and get the good stuff delivered right to your inbox.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra Chase, Chief, Transnational, Trafficking & Cyber Crimes Unit for the Southern District of Florida and Senior Litigation Counsel James V. Hayes and Trial Attorney Ligia M. Markman of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case.
The National Rapid Response Strike Force, Los Angeles Strike Force, and Miami Strike Force of the Criminal Division, Fraud Section, and the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Southern District of Florida and Central District of California lead the Department of Justice’s Sober Homes Initiative, which was initiated in September 2020 to prosecute defendants who exploit vulnerable patients seeking treatment for drug and/or alcohol addiction. Since its inception, the Sober Homes Initiative has resulted in charges and guilty pleas or convictions involving 28 criminal defendants in two judicial districts in connection with over $1 billion in alleged false billings for fraudulent tests and treatments for vulnerable patients seeking treatment for drug and/or alcohol addiction.