UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Yan KATS, Defendant-Appellant

Yan Kats appeals his conviction for conspiracy to commit Medicare fraud and for receipt of kickbacks in exchange for referral of Medicare payments, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 and 42 U.S.C. § 1395nn(b)(l). We affirm.

I

Lauro Manigbas, owner of Tech Diagnostic Medical Lab (Tech-Lab), agreed to kick back 50 percent of the Medicare payments received by Tech-Lab as a consequence of referrals from Total Health Care (THC), a medical services company owned by David Smushkevich and operated by Robert Sheppard. Under the scheme, THC collected blood and urine samples from medical offices and clinics…