Former NFL Player Convicted in $328 Million Medicare Genetic Testing Fraud

Dallas, TX. — A federal jury in Dallas has convicted former NFL player and Texas laboratory owner Keith J. Gray, 39, of McKinney, for orchestrating a $328 million Medicare fraud scheme involving medically unnecessary cardiovascular genetic testing.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Gray owned and operated two clinical laboratories — Axis Professional Labs LLC and Kingdom Health Laboratory LLC — which billed Medicare for genetic tests designed to evaluate cardiovascular disease risk. Prosecutors said the tests were not medically necessary.

Authorities said Gray paid kickbacks to marketers in exchange for Medicare beneficiaries’ DNA samples, personal information, and signed test orders from medical providers. The marketers allegedly used telemarketing campaigns to solicit beneficiaries and engaged in what prosecutors described as “doctor chasing,” pressuring physicians to approve testing orders for patients who had been pre-qualified during calls conducted by non-medical personnel.

To conceal the kickbacks, Gray used sham contracts and invoices labeled as marketing services, software payments, or loans that did not exist, prosecutors said. Evidence at trial included text messages between Gray and a co-conspirator celebrating Medicare payments. In one exchange, Gray responded to a payment notification by joking that he was “filling my bathtub with ones.”

Federal authorities said Axis and Kingdom billed Medicare approximately $328 million in fraudulent claims, receiving about $54 million in payments. Gray laundered portions of the proceeds to purchase luxury vehicles, including a Dodge Ram truck valued at more than $142,000 and a Mercedes-Benz SUV worth more than $145,000.

The jury convicted Gray of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive health care kickbacks, five counts of violating the Anti-Kickback Statute, and three counts of money laundering.

He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each count. Sentencing will be determined by a federal district court judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The case was investigated by the FBI Dallas Field Office, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General. Prosecutors from the Justice Department’s Criminal Division Fraud Section handled the case as part of the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program.

Since its launch in 2007, the strike force program has charged more than 6,200 defendants nationwide who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion, according to the Justice Department.