Date: April 9, 2021 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Louisville, Kentucky — Chief U.S. District Judge Greg Stivers sentenced Hatem Kaisi to twelve months and one day imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, announced Michael A. Bennett, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky. The defendant previously pled guilty to an indictment that charged him with three counts of filing false federal income tax returns for 2012 through 2014 and one count of healthcare fraud for defrauding the Kentucky Medicaid program. "Terrific work by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Calhoun and Sullivan as well as the FBI and IRS agents who investigated the case," said Acting U.S. Attorney Bennett. "Working together with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners we will continue to identify and aggressively prosecute fraud throughout the 53 counties in the Western District." "The defendant failed to report almost $1 million of income on his tax returns," said Bryant Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office. "Today's sentence is an important reminder that there are consequences, including jail time, for intentionally filing false tax returns." "By filing false income tax returns and abusing a federally-funded program such as Medicaid, this defendant ultimately defrauded hard-working American taxpayers," said FBI Louisville Special Agent in Charge Robert Brown. "As this sentence is handed down during this year's tax season, know that this type of exploitation will not be tolerated. The FBI, the IRS, and our other federal, state, and local partners will continue to aggressively pursue those who seek to manipulate the system for their own personal financial gain." In the plea agreement Kaisi admitted to failing to report $961,592 of income on his 2012 through 2014 federal income tax returns filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). He admitted that he owed additional federal income tax due and owing of $204,842.69 for the tax years 2001 through 2014. Kaisi defrauded the IRS by falsely reporting income earned from his automobile business on the federal income tax returns of others. In the plea agreement, Kaisi also admitted to concealing his actual income from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Medicaid Services, which is the Kentucky agency responsible for administering Medicaid. For the years 2008 through 2014, Kaisi concealed over $200,000 of income per year to fraudulently qualify his family for Medicaid benefits. As a result of his actions, Kaisi defrauded the Department for Medicaid Services out of approximately $204,842.69. Kaisi's family members would not have otherwise qualified for Medicaid benefits but for his intentional concealment of income. Kaisi also agreed to forfeit $347,095 previously seized by the United States from his bank accounts as result of the charged healthcare fraud. The United States agreed to recommend that $204,842.69 of this be applied to the restitution Kaisi owes to the Kentucky Department for Medicaid Services. Kaisi also agreed to pay full restitution, in the amount of $209,910.80, to the IRS. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Bryan Calhoun and Amy Sullivan. The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
