Seth's Appeal
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We are seeking financial help for the appeal of Seth's case and to prove his innocence. Please consider a donation of any kind. Here is the full story:
In 2009, Dr. Seth Martinez was a young physician in his second year of residency at UT Southwestern in Dallas. His wife, Ashley, had just finished law school and they had their first child, Ben. Money was tight due to the new baby and both of their school loans, and young doctors are paid very poorly during the years of their residency training. To make ends meet, Seth did what a lot of resident doctors do: he got a second job on the side, which we call moonlighting. He found what looked like a great opportunity at a clinic in Houston. They wanted a doctor to come in and review the charts of other doctors to make sure their documentation and decisions seemed appropriate. He only had to fly down from Dallas to Houston once or twice a month on the weekends he didn't have to work in his main job as a resident.
What Seth didn't and couldn't know is that he was being duped into joining a sophisticated organized crime ring by a group of Armenian gangsters. They, of course, did not include that fact in the ad they posted. They had a simple goal: to steal as much money as possible from the American government through Medicare fraud. In their scheme they would set up a medical clinic and hire doctors to work there. In order to bill Medicare or Medicaid for work, doctors must have a Medicare number. These criminals would hire doctors and use their Medicare number to bill for services that were not needed or in some cases were not even performed at all. This type of fraud is a multi-billion dollar industry that the government is desparate to stop. One problem that such criminals quickly run into is that they can only bill so much from one doctor before law enforcement catches on. To get around this, the criminals came up with a new plan. They would hire doctors to supervise the doctors in on the fraud who were actually seeing patients, but use the new doctors' Medicare numbers without their knowledge to continue the fraudulent services. When law enforcement got too close, the criminals would pack up and move on leaving all the doctors to take the blame. They had done the same thing in California and Arizona and were now expanding their criminal enterprise into Texas, trying to stay one step ahead of law enforcement.
In taking the job, Seth unwittingly walked right into the gangsters' trap. Residency training is all about learning how to take care of patients, but there is no training about the economics of practicing medicine like billing for services. Doctors generally learn that on the job when they finish their medical training. Since Seth was only a second year resident (out of four years), he knew next to nothing about how billing works. The criminals had set up a functioning clinic with another doctor in on the scheme (Dr. Nguyen), and when Seth went to see the clinic it appeared to be a normal doctor's office. There were patients there but Seth's role was not to see them, only to review the charts that the treating doctor created. Behind the scenes, though, the gangsters took Seth's Medicare number and billed for services that he never provided. Seth wasn't able to keep up with both his moonlighting job duties, his residency duties and taking care of his family, so he quit after a few months. Some time later law enforcement again closed in, but this time the gangsters were caught.
The government wanted to make an example of these people in order to discourage anyone from engaging in such fraudulent activities in the future. Instead of using Seth and another doctor who took the same job after him as witnesses, the US Attorney decided to charge them as co-conspirators along with Dr. Nguyen, despite the fact that Seth and the second doctor were as much victims in this as the government. Like many recent cases coming to light recently, such as the case of Adnan Syed highlighted by the podcast Serial, it seems that prosecutors around the country are less interested in justice and more interested in getting convictions.
Despite the fact that they presented no evidence that would suggest he knew or should have known about the conspiracy in June 2016 the US Attorney was able to convince a jury to convict Dr. Nguyen, Seth and the other doctor of multiple felonies for fraud. The government would not allow Seth's attorneys to use the gangsters, who had made a plea deal admitting guilt, to testify on behalf of Seth that he was simply a pawn in their scheme to defraud Medicare. This conviction effectively ended Seth's medical career, and he is now facing several years in federal prison because he had the misfortune to be used by a sophisticated organized crime enterprise to defraud a government that cares only for retribution, not justice.
Seth intends to appeal the verdict, but after years and years of legal bills, selling their home, and making sacrifice after sacrifice to fight this, they need our help financially. Seth is innocent of any wrong doing and in order to prove that an appeal could cost upwards of $75,000. He will not have a medical license to practice as a doctor anymore (a career he has wanted since he was 10 years old). In addition to supporting each other, Seth and Ashley have four beatiful children ranging in age from 4 to 9 years.
Please consider making a financial donation of any kind to help them and keep them in your prayers. We will update here with important dates.
In 2009, Dr. Seth Martinez was a young physician in his second year of residency at UT Southwestern in Dallas. His wife, Ashley, had just finished law school and they had their first child, Ben. Money was tight due to the new baby and both of their school loans, and young doctors are paid very poorly during the years of their residency training. To make ends meet, Seth did what a lot of resident doctors do: he got a second job on the side, which we call moonlighting. He found what looked like a great opportunity at a clinic in Houston. They wanted a doctor to come in and review the charts of other doctors to make sure their documentation and decisions seemed appropriate. He only had to fly down from Dallas to Houston once or twice a month on the weekends he didn't have to work in his main job as a resident.
What Seth didn't and couldn't know is that he was being duped into joining a sophisticated organized crime ring by a group of Armenian gangsters. They, of course, did not include that fact in the ad they posted. They had a simple goal: to steal as much money as possible from the American government through Medicare fraud. In their scheme they would set up a medical clinic and hire doctors to work there. In order to bill Medicare or Medicaid for work, doctors must have a Medicare number. These criminals would hire doctors and use their Medicare number to bill for services that were not needed or in some cases were not even performed at all. This type of fraud is a multi-billion dollar industry that the government is desparate to stop. One problem that such criminals quickly run into is that they can only bill so much from one doctor before law enforcement catches on. To get around this, the criminals came up with a new plan. They would hire doctors to supervise the doctors in on the fraud who were actually seeing patients, but use the new doctors' Medicare numbers without their knowledge to continue the fraudulent services. When law enforcement got too close, the criminals would pack up and move on leaving all the doctors to take the blame. They had done the same thing in California and Arizona and were now expanding their criminal enterprise into Texas, trying to stay one step ahead of law enforcement.
In taking the job, Seth unwittingly walked right into the gangsters' trap. Residency training is all about learning how to take care of patients, but there is no training about the economics of practicing medicine like billing for services. Doctors generally learn that on the job when they finish their medical training. Since Seth was only a second year resident (out of four years), he knew next to nothing about how billing works. The criminals had set up a functioning clinic with another doctor in on the scheme (Dr. Nguyen), and when Seth went to see the clinic it appeared to be a normal doctor's office. There were patients there but Seth's role was not to see them, only to review the charts that the treating doctor created. Behind the scenes, though, the gangsters took Seth's Medicare number and billed for services that he never provided. Seth wasn't able to keep up with both his moonlighting job duties, his residency duties and taking care of his family, so he quit after a few months. Some time later law enforcement again closed in, but this time the gangsters were caught.
The government wanted to make an example of these people in order to discourage anyone from engaging in such fraudulent activities in the future. Instead of using Seth and another doctor who took the same job after him as witnesses, the US Attorney decided to charge them as co-conspirators along with Dr. Nguyen, despite the fact that Seth and the second doctor were as much victims in this as the government. Like many recent cases coming to light recently, such as the case of Adnan Syed highlighted by the podcast Serial, it seems that prosecutors around the country are less interested in justice and more interested in getting convictions.
Despite the fact that they presented no evidence that would suggest he knew or should have known about the conspiracy in June 2016 the US Attorney was able to convince a jury to convict Dr. Nguyen, Seth and the other doctor of multiple felonies for fraud. The government would not allow Seth's attorneys to use the gangsters, who had made a plea deal admitting guilt, to testify on behalf of Seth that he was simply a pawn in their scheme to defraud Medicare. This conviction effectively ended Seth's medical career, and he is now facing several years in federal prison because he had the misfortune to be used by a sophisticated organized crime enterprise to defraud a government that cares only for retribution, not justice.
Seth intends to appeal the verdict, but after years and years of legal bills, selling their home, and making sacrifice after sacrifice to fight this, they need our help financially. Seth is innocent of any wrong doing and in order to prove that an appeal could cost upwards of $75,000. He will not have a medical license to practice as a doctor anymore (a career he has wanted since he was 10 years old). In addition to supporting each other, Seth and Ashley have four beatiful children ranging in age from 4 to 9 years.
Please consider making a financial donation of any kind to help them and keep them in your prayers. We will update here with important dates.
Organizer and beneficiary
Tina Alexander
Organizer
Dallas, TX
Ashley Martinez
Beneficiary
