An Oakdale man has pleaded guilty for his role in a multimillion-dollar insurance fraud scheme. Okwuchukwu Emmanuel Jidoefor, 38, along with multiple co-conspirators, participated in a scheme from 2011 to 2016 to defraud automobile insurance companies by recruiting patients, staging accidents, and receiving illegal kickbacks, the District of Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office has announced.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Minnesota Commerce Fraud Bureau and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistance was provided by the Minneapolis Police Department, St. Paul Police Department, Minnesota State Patrol, and Homeland Security Investigations.

Jidoefor’s role was a “runner,” someone who solicited individuals who had been in car accidents to attend treatments at co conspirator clinics, including Healthcare Chiropractic, Meyer Injury Center, and Morrow Accident Rehabilitation Center.

Jidoefor pleaded guilty on June 14 before Senior U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis to one count of mail fraud. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 27.

This case was part of a larger investigation, with initial federal criminal charges filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office Minnesota District in 2016, that resulted in charges against 26 individuals across seven metro-area chiropractic practices. Including this latest conviction, 24 of those individuals have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty after a trial.

According to the charges, chiropractors involved in the scheme would submit claims and receive reimbursements for services that either were not medically necessary or were never rendered. To get more patients to come to appointments for treatment they did not need, the chiropractors would make illegal payments to patient recruiters known as runners. Runners typically made upwards of $1,000 per automobile accident patient in exchange for bringing the patient into the chiropractor’s office.

The co-conspirators in the scheme hid that runners and patients were being paid by lying to insurance companies, making the payments in cash, and reminding all involved to keep the payments a secret. 

The Commerce Fraud Bureau, the law enforcement agency based at the Minnesota Department of Commerce, investigates insurance fraud and related financial crimes. 

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MEDIA CONTACT:
Mo Schriner
Communications Director
Minnesota Department of Commerce
Mo.schriner@state.mn.us