A Vicksburg man will spend more than three decades in federal prison for his role in a major healthcare fraud scheme.
U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate sentenced Laron Evans to a lengthy jail stint after he admitted guilt in conspiring with co-defendant Travious Quinshad Jackson and others to execute a healthcare fraud scheme involving Health Savings Accounts.
Evans and company used the internet to send over the personal identification numbers of 57 people, pretending they were employees of a made-up company, to a third-party administrator housed in Maryland.
The third-party administrator used the stolen information to create individualized HSAs, and corresponding debit cards, for all 57 employee names, and sent debit cards for each employee’s name in the mail to Vicksburg addresses. Funds were credited to each account, allowing the bad actors to spend the money at designated retailers.
Evans, along with Jackson and others, spent the debit cards in various stores throughout April and May 2018, buying gift cards, debit cards, and other consumer goods to deplete the HSA accounts. The third-party administrator in the meantime had learned that there was no money in the bank account that Evans had identified for his fake company when the company sought reimbursement for the HSA accounts.
On July 10, 2018, using proceeds from the scam, Evans bought a 2018 Chevrolet Suburban SUV in Forrest County for $44,335 in cash plus a trade-in vehicle.
On February 13, 2019, Evans appeared in federal court for his initial appearance and arraignment. Evans was ordered to be released on bond pending trial, subject to conditions forbidding travel without prior permission of the court before leaving the Southern District of Mississippi.
In April 2019, Evans traveled outside the state of Mississippi without prior approval. While outside the Magnolia State and on his return to Vicksburg, Evans continued to execute healthcare fraud schemes.
Evans falsely represented himself as the leader and manager of an Orlando, Fla., business, seeking to establish healthcare benefits, including HSAs, for its purported employees. He submitted bank account information for drawing reimbursement, plus employee information for the creation of HSA debit cards, over the Internet to a third-party administrator company located in Minnesota.
The Minnesota company sent some of the debit cards between April 16-25, 2019, to Evans at his Vicksburg home address through the U.S. Postal Service. Evans had requested that the Minnesota administrator fund those HSA accounts up to $91,000. Evans pled guilty on August 1, 2019, to:
- Conspiring to commit wire fraud
- Mail fraud and healthcare fraud
- Money laundering
- Aggravated identity theft
- Contempt of court
In addition to Evans’ 32-year sentence, he is also ordered to pay $1,917,231.26 in restitution to the victims in the case.
Co-defendant Travious Quinshad Jackson pled guilty on June 18, 2019, to aggravated identity theft and was sentenced to two years in prison. He was also ordered to pay $302,099.34 in restitution.
The case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, Vicksburg Police Department, and Warren County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly T. Purdie led the prosecution efforts.
