Michael J. Zarrelli admitted he agreed with BLS President David Nicoll and others to pay cash bribes to a physician in exchange for referring patient blood specimens to BLS. Those referrals generated more than $400,000 in lab business for BLS, according to the DOJ.
Mr. Zarrelli pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to bribe a physician and one count of money laundering.
Including Mr. Zarrelli, 37 people — 24 of them physicians — have pleaded guilty in connection with the fraud scheme.
Organizers of the scheme have admitted it involved millions of dollars in bribes and resulted in more than $100 million in payments to BLS from Medicare and various private insurance companies, according to the DOJ.
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