Miami chiropractor charged with federal fraud schemes, from Medicare to COVID-19 loans
A longtime Miami chiropractor appeared in federal court Wednesday on an array of fraud charges involving COVID-19 relief loans, a government healthcare program and a credit card plan for his patients.
Dennis Nobbe, 63, was released on a $200,000 bond, and his arraignment was scheduled for Oct. 21. His defense attorney, Robert Nicholson, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Nobbe is accused of pocketing thousands of dollars by exploiting the credit card plan meant to help his patients pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses, according to a criminal complaint. Prosecutors say he paid bribes to other physicians to open credit card merchant accounts in their names, and then encouraged many of his patients to apply for the credit cards to pay their bills at his Miami business, Dynamic Medical Services.
Nobbe then charged thousands of dollars to their credit cards for services that he never, or only partially, provided — leaving his many low-income and non-English-speaking patients in debt, according to the complaint.
In addition, the complaint says, Nobbe bribed a physician to submit claims to Medicare on the chiropractor’s behalf because he was ineligible to bill the federal health insurance program for the elderly and indigent.
“Nobbe and other physicians also allegedly conspired to launder proceeds from these schemes,” using shell companies and sham contracts to hide his involvement, Justice Department prosecutors said in a news release, without identifying the doctors.
The complaint further alleges that Nobbe obtained more than $200,000 from the federal government under the CARES Act adopted by Congress to help small businesses hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic. Prosecutors say he applied for Payroll Protection Program loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration and transferred the proceeds to himself rather than for paying his employees and covering rent.
The case, filed by Justice Department trial attorney Sara Clingan, was investigated by the FBI in Miami along with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Small Business Administration.
Over the past decade, Nobbe and his business have been sued in about a dozen federal civil cases, including employees who complained that the avowed Scientologist allegedly “used L. Ron Hubbard Technology to build the largest chiropractic office in all of South Florida.”
This story was originally published July 30, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
