Dr. Wade Neal Barker admitted to being part of a $200 million fraud, bribery and kick back scheme in federal court on Friday, the The Texas Lawbook reports. The bariatric surgeon helped found the since-closed Forest Park Medical Center.
Barker is the seventh of the 21 indicted officials associated with the chain of luxury hospitals to admit guilt, according to the The Texas Lawbook. Barker is accused of handing out $40 million in bribes to cooperating doctors. As a founder with access to sources and documents, Barker’s plea may pay dividends for the prosecution. He could end up with a sentence of seven years in federal prison.
In 2016, Matt Goodman wrote about the original indictment, which included “well over half a billion dollars” in fraudulent claims:
“A vast, four-year conspiracy, fueled by $40 million in kickbacks funneled through a number of shell companies—consulting firms, commercial real estate firms, business services organizations—into the pockets of high-powered surgeons, some of whom have their faces on billboards throughout Dallas-Fort Worth.
The 21 suspects include two of the four physician founders of the hospital chain: Dr. Richard Toussaint, the anesthesiologist who is awaiting sentencing on a separate fraud conviction; and Wade Barker, the bariatric surgeon who helped develop the idea for Forest Park. Other early adopters indicted in the scheme include Wilton ‘Mac’ Burt, a consultant who helped run the chain’s affiliated management company until he and his colleague, Alan Beauchamp, were bought out in 2015. Beauchamp was also indicted. The remaining cofounders, David Genecov and Robert Wyatt, were not indicted.”
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