ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The former owner of 1st Class Sleep Diagnostic Center and 1st Class Medical, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

According to court documents, from at least 2005 through 2014, Dannie Ahn, 43, of Centreville, helped control, manage, and oversee various corporations, to include 1st Class Sleep Diagnostic Center and 1st Class Medical, which provided sleep studies and sleep-related treatment at clinics located throughout Northern Virginia and Maryland.

According to the statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Ahn, along with a conspirator, directed a scheme to defraud health care benefit programs by causing the submission of false, fraudulent, and misleading claims. Ahn fraudulently incentivized individuals to receive sleep studies, which he had no reason to believe were medically necessary and were not authorized by any medical practitioner, in order to increase revenue. Ahn also caused kickbacks to be paid to physicians in exchange for referring patients to 1st Class, and disguised the kickbacks using various means. 

According to the statement of facts, Ahn, along with a conspirator, caused 1st Class to pay personal expenses which were falsely and fraudulently characterized as business expenses on the financial books and records of 1st Class. Later, Ahn caused the false information, including the false business records of 1st Class, to be provided to various individuals for preparation of corporate income tax returns and individual income tax returns. According to court documents, the loss attributable to Ahn’s conduct is between $4.5 and $25 million, and the loss to government health care programs is more than $1 million. 

Ahn pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. He is scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 14, 2018.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Andrew W. Vale, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Kimberly Lappin, Special Agent in Charge, Washington, D.C. Field Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Robert E. Craig, Special Agent in Charge for the Defense Criminal Investigative Service’s (DCIS) Mid-Atlantic Field Office, Nicholas DiGiulio, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), and Norbert E. Vint, Acting Inspector General for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Wong and Trial Attorney Kevin Lowell of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Related court documents and information is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:17-cr-222.