According to investigators, Julian Vence Kimble, who operated two private ambulance companies—Monarch Ambulance and Pearl Ambulance—took Medicare for a ride, collecting payment for health care benefits, namely basic life support ambulance transports. Then, he allegedly tried to hide or launder the proceeds in financial transactions.

At the end of a trail of failed business deals, the self-described 'millionaire' now finds himself charged with defrauding Medicare of at least $4.6 million, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and tax evasion.

Kimble, also a Houston nightclub investor, pleaded not guilty during his first court appearance Nov. 2. A $30,000 bail has been set.

The federal criminal charges against the 46-year-old, however, are just the latest in a series of legal woes. On Oct. 14, the former owner of Monarch, Wanda Washington, won a $91,000 court settlement from Kimble and his father-in-law for failing to pay $180,000 owed for purchasing the company in 2008.

Just a day before this settlement was awarded, Kimble faced another lawsuit that revealed a year of problems arising from Kimble's agreement to become the majority investor in the Grooves Restaurant. At the time federal agents were investigating Kimble for fraud, he was considering investing in a nightclub operation that became Grooves Restaurant, a popular local nightspot.

The lawsuit, filed on Oct. 15 by Kerry Carter and Latonia Jackson says Kimble's promised investment in the nightclub evaporated about the time federal marshals showed up, announcing the club could be subject to seizure because of his alleged Medicare fraud schemes. While the club was being renovated, Kimble was “arrested by the United States Federal Marshal for Medicare/Medicare Fraud of over twenty million dollars,” Carter's lawsuit states.

The lawsuit claims that Kimble agreed to foot 67 percent of the costs for the club's opening in January. He had invested $50,000 by the time federal investigators began asking questions. The federal criminal complaint against Kimble also orders him to forfeit all property and money made off the illegal proceeds of his Medicare fraud.

Source: www.chron.com.

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Featured Fraud: Did This Ambulance Owner Take Medicare for a Ride?

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