On March 7, 2011, Clint Broden achieved another appellate victory in a Medicaid fraud/Medicare fraud case when the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decided United States v. Isiwele.
Mr. Isiwele was convicted at trial and retained Broden & Mickelsen to represent him on criminal appeal in federal court.
Mr. Isiwele was accused of providing motorized wheelchairs to people who did not have a medical necessity for the wheelchairs. The main issue on appeal dealt with how the “loss amount” should be determined in Medicaid fraud/Medicare fraud cases and whether it should be based upon the amounts billed Medicare/Medicaid or based upon the capped amounts paid by Medicare/Medicaid. The Fifth Circuit remanded Mr. Isiwele’s case for resentencing and it is hoped that Mr. Isiwele’s sentence will ultimately be reduced by approximately two years.
Other Medicare Fraud Victories
This is not the first appellate victory for Clint Broden in a Medicare fraud case. In 2004, in United States v. Miles, the Fifth Circuit reversed a money laundering conviction against Ms. Miles because there was insufficient evidence that her business as whole was illegitimate such that otherwise normal and legitimate rent, payroll and payroll tax expenditures could support a money laundering promotion conviction. It also reversed her sentence on other counts when it found that Medicare was not “financial institution” for sentence enhancement purposes. Ms. Miles ran a home healthcare agency and was accused of submitting fraudulent expenses to Medicare.
As of 2011, Clint Broden has handled approximately 70 federal appeals. He has received oral augment in almost half of those cases despite the fact that the Fifth Circuit only grants oral argument in approximately ten percent of criminal cases. More importantly, although the Fifth Circuit only grants relief in approximately eight percent of criminal cases, Clint has obtained relief for his client in approximately twenty-five percent of the cases he has handled.
View a complete list of published appellate cases handled by Broden & Mickelsen.
