Fugitive $1.2B Medicare Fraudster Captured in Philippines

A fugitive accused of orchestrating one of the largest healthcare fraud schemes in U.S. history has been captured in the Philippines and returned to the United States after nearly two years on the run. Herbert Leon Kimble, 60, was arrested in Pasig City on June 11, deported on June 18, and is now back in American custody.

Kimble pleaded guilty in April 2019 to charges including conspiracy to defraud the United States, healthcare fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, making false claims, and offering kickbacks and bribes. The charges stemmed from a sophisticated, call-center-based operation that ran from approximately 2014 through March 2019. Federal investigators say the scheme improperly marketed orthopedic braces to Medicare beneficiaries, often through telemedicine consultations that lacked legitimate medical evaluation, generating over $1.2 billion in fraudulent Medicare charges and affecting thousands of beneficiaries, many of them elderly.

After pleading guilty, Kimble failed to appear for his sentencing hearing in August 2024, prompting a federal arrest warrant and an international manhunt. He was believed to be residing in Manila, and the FBI had offered a reward of up to...