A Boston physician has been sentenced to 36 months in prison for her role in telemedicine fraud and kickback schemes that led to more than $40 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare and Tricare, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.
Le Thu, MD, 71, was sentenced Oct. 6 to 36 months in prison and two years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay more than $27 million in restitution. She pleaded guilty in 2025 to conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and to two counts of false statements relating to healthcare matters.
From May 2014 through April 2017, Dr. Thu accepted kickbacks of about $35 per prescription from a telemedicine company in exchange for approving hundreds of prescriptions for durable medical equipment and compounded medications, knowing some would be billed to TRICARE. From March 2017 through November 2020, she signed, and had people with no medical training sign, thousands of false orders for genetic tests and DME for Medicare beneficiaries she had never interacted with or treated. She was paid more than $200,000. DME suppliers and laboratories then submitted more than $40 million in claims based on those orders, and Medicare paid more than $27 million.
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