PHOENIX--After confessing to more than $1 million in bank fraud and forgery charges, a former special agent with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General now faces up to 35 years in prison and more than $1.2 million in fines.
In a guilty plea entered Oct. 30 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, former HHS special agent Scott Allen Gompert admitted to using his expertise and connections as an investigative agent specializing in Medicare fraud to seize more than $1 million illegally.
According to court documents, through his knowledge of the system, Gompert identified various bank accounts that held money from fraudulent activity. He then prepared fraudulent seizure warrants with forged signatures of U.S. magistrate judges and presented the warrants to banks holding the funds from the fraudulent accounts he had previously discovered. The banks were then directed to issue cashier's checks to a government seizure account that Gompert had actually established for personal use.
Gompert used the money to pay off his mortgage and credit cards and to purchase a Toyota Avalon and land in Peoria, Ariz., which he intended to develop, the court papers said.
As part of his plea agreement, Gompert agreed to forfeit assets equal to the criminally seized amount, including nearly $550,000 in cash, the development property and the Avalon.
Gompert faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine on the bank fraud charge. In addition, he faces five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a term of supervised release on the forgery charges.
Gompert's sentencing is set for Jan. 28 of next year.
