TAMPA, Fla. (AP) --
A grand jury has indicted five former WellCare executives, alleging they pocketed Medicaid money designated for patient care.
Thursday's announcement comes nearly four years after the FBI
raided the company's Tampa office in 2007.
Prosecutors have said the company inflated expenditures by
submitting fake documents. Under some mental health care contracts, WellCare was paid per patient and required to spend at least 80 percent on care. Any leftover amount beyond 20 percent was to be repaid to the state, but the bogus expenditures allowed WellCare to keep that surplus.
The company paid the state $80 million in restitution in 2009.
A WellCare spokeswoman stressed Thursday the defendants have not been with the company since 2008 and that WellCare is also taking legal action against them.
