Wellesley psychiatrist Gustavo Kinrys
PRESS RELEASE
Wellesley Psychiatrist Sentenced to Over Eight Years in Prison for $19 Million Insurance Fraud Scheme; Billed Insurance Companies for Thousands of Services He Never Provided
Friday, June 7, 2024
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts
Defendant used proceeds to finance multi-million-dollar homes in Wellesley and Nantucket and to purchase over $600,000 in jewelry from Cartier, Van Cleef and Tiffany’s
BOSTON – A Wellesley psychiatrist was sentenced yesterday for billing Medicare and private insurance companies for over $19 million in treatments he did not provide and obstructing justice in an attempt to conceal his crimes.
Gustavo Kinrys, 53, of Wellesley, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to 99 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Kinrys was also ordered to pay restitution and forfeiture in an amount to be determined at a later hearing. In October 2023, following a jury trial, Kinrys was convicted of seven counts of wire fraud, six counts of false statements relating to health care matters, and one count of obstructing a criminal health care investigation.
“Dr. Kinrys undermined the trust that our healthcare system relies upon. For years, he diverted millions of dollars in critical resources from those in genuine need of medical attention, relying on fraud to finance his luxury lifestyle. This defendant’s driving motivation was greed. His attempts to obstruct justice in order to conceal his scheme further exemplify his blatant disregard for the law,” said Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy. “This sentence underscores our unwavering commitment to prosecuting those who exploit the healthcare system for personal gain. When someone commits health care fraud, we all suffer – it drives up costs for everyone, diverts precious resources and erodes the public’s confidence in our healthcare providers. Our office will continue to prioritize the investigation and prosecution of those who engage in such egregious misconduct.”
“This 99-month sentence reflects the seriousness of Dr. Kinrys’ crimes – his violation of the public’s trust in his position as a physician and his theft from the American taxpayers,” said Roberto Coviello, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. “As we’ve proven here, those who exploit our federal health care system for personal gain will be brought to justice.”
“Gustavo Kinrys lied to Medicare and private insurers, billing them for over $19 million worth of mental health treatments he never provided and then obstructed our investigation in an attempt to cover up his crimes. In doing so, Dr. Kinrys betrayed the trust of his vulnerable and mentally ill patients, and taxpayers, to fund a lavish lifestyle including a $2.1 million vacation home in Nantucket, and over $600,000 in expensive jewelry,” said Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division. “The FBI will continue to work with our partners to identify, investigate, and bring to justice anyone who tries to steal from this country’s vital health care system.”
“This sentence represents that health care fraud is not tolerated in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts places a high priority on fighting this type of insurance fraud which affects the citizens of this state. We appreciate the collaboration of our investigative partners in combatting fraud in our healthcare system,” said Anthony M. DiPaolo, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Insurance Fraud Bureau.
Kinrys was a licensed psychiatrist who owned and operated Advanced TMS Associates, located in Natick, Mass. Among other services, Kinrys offered transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) therapy and psychotherapy to patients suffering from depression. TMS therapy is a noninvasive method of brain stimulation that uses rapidly alternating or pulsed magnetic fields to induce electrical currents directed at a patient’s cerebral cortex.
Between January 2015 and December 2018, Kinrys engaged in a variety of fraudulent billing schemes in which he sought and received reimbursement for $19 million in services he did not render. For example, Kinrys billed Medicare and private insurers $10.6 million for thousands of TMS sessions he never provided, including over 8,000 sessions he claimed were provided to 74 patients who, in fact, never received a single session of the therapy. Kinrys also billed Medicare and private insurers for millions of dollars’ worth of psychotherapy sessions he never provided, including over 900 face-to-face sessions he falsely claimed he provided while he was on vacation in locations like the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, and the Czech Republic. On 382 days, Kinrys billed Medicare and private insurers for having provided more than 24 hours’ worth of psychotherapy services in a single day, including one day in July 2017 when he claimed he had provided hour-long psychotherapy sessions to 70 different patients – all while outside the United States on vacation. With the proceeds of his fraud, Kinrys paid off a $1.8 million home in Wellesley, purchased over $600,000 in jewelry from Cartier, Van Cleef, and Tiffany’s and purchased a $2.1 million vacation home in Nantucket.
To further his fraudulent billing scheme, Kinrys made numerous false statements to his patients, the billing company he worked with, and the insurers to whom he submitted claims seeking reimbursement. When Medicare and private insurers sought records from Kinrys to justify his exorbitant claims, he took steps to conceal his fraud by creating, and forcing his employee to create, fake patient records to send to Medicare and private insurers. Kinrys continued his obstructive behavior when, in response to a July 2018 subpoena from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, he created and produced additional fake patient records purporting to show patients had received dozens of treatments that never happened and which falsely represented that the condition of those patients was improving.
Acting U.S. Attorney Levy, HHS-OIG SAC Coviello, FBI Boston SAC Cohen and MA IFB Director DiPaolo made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick M. Callahan and Christopher R. Looney of the Health Care Fraud Unit prosecuted the case.