“..Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought…“
….Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan
NORMAN J CLEMENT RPH., DDS, NORMAN L. CLEMENT PHARM-TECH, MALACHI F. MACKANDAL PHARMD, BELINDA BROWN-PARKER, IN THE SPIRIT OF JOSEPH SOLVO ESQ., INC., SPIRIT OF REV. IN THE SPIRIT OF WALTER R. CLEMENT BS., MS, MBA. HARVEY JENKINS, MD, PH.D., IN THE SPIRIT OF C.T. VIVIAN, JELANI ZIMBABWE CLEMENT, BS., M.B.A., IN THE SPIRIT OF THE HON. PATRICE LUMUMBA, IN THE SPIRIT OF ERLIN CLEMENT SR., EVELYN J. CLEMENT, WALTER F. WRENN III., MD., JULIE KILLINGSWORTH, RENEE BLARE, RPH, DR. TERENCE SASAKI, MD LESLY POMPY MD., CHRISTOPHER RUSSO, MD., NANCY SEEFELDT, WILLIE GUINYARD BS., JOSEPH WEBSTER MD., MBA, BEVERLY C. PRINCE MD., FACS., NEIL ARNAND, MD., RICHARD KAUL, MD., IN THE SPIRIT OF LEROY BAYLOR, JAY K. JOSHI MD., MBA, AISHA GARDNER, ADRIENNE EDMUNDSON, ESTER HYATT PH.D., WALTER L. SMITH BS., IN THE SPIRIT OF BRAHM FISHER ESQ., MICHELE ALEXANDER MD., CUDJOE WILDING BS, MARTIN NJOKU, BS., RPH., IN THE SPIRIT OF DEBRA LYNN SHEPHERD, BERES E. MUSCHETT, STRATEGIC ADVISORS
Dr. Shiva Aklula, MD
| Register Number: 61778-509 | |
| Age: | 69 |
| Race: | Asian |
| Sex: | Male |
| Located at: Memphis FCI | |
| Release Date: 08/09/2040 | |
Dr Margaret Aranda Ferrante, MD PhD FACFEI
Quote:
“MMEs were invented so that the government could limit dosing.” Of course!!
USA v. Akula: Sentencing Memorandum for Healthcare Fraud
The above government sentencing memorandum requests a life sentence for Dr. Shiva Akula, MD, who was found guilty on twenty-three counts of healthcare fraud for fraudulently billing Medicare.
The prosecution argued that a substantial sentence is necessary to reflect the seriousness of his crimes, which involved millions of dollars in fraudulent billing and putting patients at risk, and to deter other healthcare professionals from similar offenses. The memo emphasizes that a lenient sentence would undermine public confidence in the justice system.
There has been a deliberate conscious decision by the DEA-DOJ, the Federal Courts, and doctors such as Andrew Kolodny to deny people in pain access to medications like narcotic analgesics, benzodiazepines, a final solution, leading to their extermination, “letting them die off,” in what can be seen as govermental sanctioned medical genocide…; norman j clement,rph, dds
TRIAL RECORD REPORT
1ST DAY
These documents warn against the dangers of moral abstraction and the prioritization of prestige and funding over ethical integrity, calling for a radical reimagining of societal systems to combat what is described as the “financial feudalism of the DOJ-DEA.”
…Richard Lawhern, ph.d
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THE NORMS
REFERENCES
Briefing Document: United States v. Shiva Akula – Government’s Sentencing Memorandum
Case: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. SHIVA AKULA Criminal No.: 21-98 SECTION: “I”(4) Court: UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA
Date of Document: May 6, 2024 (Date of electronic filing) Author: Assistant United States Attorneys Kathryn M. McHugh and J. Ryan McLaren
I. Executive Summary
This Government’s Sentencing Memorandum requests the Court impose a sentence within the recommended guidelines imprisonment range of 360 months to life for Shiva Akula. The document emphasizes that while the case involves a significant healthcare fraud, Akula’s “disrespect for any authority that questions him, including this Court, and his stubborn refusal to come to terms with the fact that he did something wrong” has exacerbated the situation. The government argues a substantial prison sentence is necessary to promote respect for the law and deter future criminal conduct.
II. Key Facts and Procedural History
- Indictment and Conviction: On August 5, 2021, a grand jury indicted Akula on 23 counts of health care fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1347). Following a five-day trial, a jury returned a guilty verdict on all counts on November 6, 2023.
- Nature of Fraudulent Billing (Canon Hospice):Counts 1-8: Fraudulently billing Medicare at the General Inpatient (GIP) level for three patients who did not qualify.
- Counts 9-11: Fraudulent billing under CPT code 99236 for History and Physical forms (H+Ps) copied by Akula’s niece (an extern at Canon Hospice).
- Counts 12-17: Fraudulent billing under CPT code 99233 for physician services on top of the hospice per diem rate, which is intended to cover all physician services.
- Counts 18-23: Fraudulent billing under CPT code 99350 for physician services during home visits in outpatient settings, in addition to the hospice per diem rate.
- Loss Amount: Akula submitted approximately $84 million in fraudulent billing to Medicare. This was despite a prior audit finding a “100 percent failure rate in Canon’s claims.”
- Presentence Investigation Report (PSR): The draft PSR recommended a guidelines imprisonment range of 360 months to life, based on an offense level of 42. This level includes enhancements for the over $65 million loss, abuse of a position of trust, leadership role in the offense, and obstructive conduct.
III. Akula’s Self-Destructive Conduct and Disrespect for Authority
The memorandum details numerous instances of Akula’s disruptive and defiant behavior throughout the proceedings, demonstrating his “disrespect for this Court and the criminal process.” These include:
- Retaliation Against Whistleblower: After the indictment, Akula, through non-attorney advisor Christina Paylan and “Physicians Against Abuse (PAA),” issued a press release naming a sealed federal whistleblower and her fiancé. The release accused the whistleblower of having an “employment rap sheet” and seeking money by becoming a “so-called whistleblower,” circulating this internally at Canon Hospice to “chill the other employees’ cooperation with the government.”
- Firing Employee for Refusing False Affidavit: After Medicaid terminated Canon’s provider agreement, Akula asked employees to sign affidavits with false representations to reinstate the agreement. One employee was fired, with her termination letter explicitly stating her refusal to sign as the reason.
- Frivolous Civil RICO Lawsuit: Akula filed a pro se civil RICO lawsuit against a federal prosecutor, his former defense attorneys, the whistleblower, and others, alleging a “convoluted scheme” and “unsupported and baseless allegations of corruption by this Court.” This lawsuit was dismissed.
- Frivolous State Court Counterclaims: In response to a lease dispute, Akula countersued, including frivolous claims against the whistleblower and a testifying Ochsner doctor, attempting to bypass court rulings on witness statements. The government successfully intervened and stayed this case.
- Baseless Bar Complaints: Akula, through Paylan and PAA, filed two dismissed bar complaints against one of the Assistant United States Attorneys.
- Repeated Allegations of Corruption: Akula repeatedly made “unsupported and baseless allegations of corruption by this Court,” including a denied petition for writ of mandamus and a denied Supreme Court petition for certiorari. The latter claimed his case was the “‘tip of the iceberg’ of not just [this Court’s] criminal corruption… but of the far wider ‘War on Doctors’ that continues to be perpetrated against principally ethnic minority (African American, Indian, Hispanic) physicians.”
- Misleading Court on Assets and Bond Violation: After conviction, Akula “repeatedly misled this Court about his assets and violated the terms of his bond until, in January 2024, his bond was revoked, and he was remanded.”
- Continued Complaints from Incarceration: While incarcerated, Akula continued “unsupported and baseless complaints concerning corruption by this Court,” including crude remarks and claims of the Court “profiting from my misery.”
- Ghostwriting and Manipulation: Akula discussed having non-attorney advisors ghostwrite filings for him and planned to use his defense attorney to send his confidential presentence investigation report to a non-attorney advisor (Christina Paylan) despite a court ruling requiring a motion for such disclosure.
IV. Sentencing Factors and Government Argument
The government argues that the seriousness of Akula’s conduct and his post-indictment actions necessitate a lengthy prison sentence, focusing on three key § 3553(a) factors:
- A. Nature and Circumstances of the Offense; Seriousness and Just Punishment (§ 3553(a)(1), (2)(A))
- Substantial Loss: The $84 million fraud demonstrates the severity of the offense.
- Lack of Remorse: Akula’s “lack of remorse and seeming inability to recognize that he did anything wrong suggests that, had he not been caught, he would have continued submitting millions of dollars’ worth of fraudulent claims.”
- Beyond Monetary Harm: Akula’s “greed led to the administrator of Canon’s New Orleans office, Sue May, falsifying audit results and subsequently pleading guilty to a felony.” His actions also “endangered the livelihoods of Canon’s employees and the well-being of Canon’s patients.”
- Patient Harm: Akula “regularly cut corners” and dismissed employees who recommended lawful changes. His “sole focus was on keeping Canon’s census as high as possible and billing as much as possible to Medicare.” This included patients “receiving inpatient hospice care when they did not actually need it and could have been receiving outpatient care instead,” and telling patients they had less than six months to live when it was not true.
- B. History and Characteristics of the Defendant; Promote Respect for the Law; Adequate Deterrence (§ 3553(a)(1), (2)(A), (B))
- White-Collar Crime Deterrence: The government emphasizes that “white collar criminals may be particularly susceptible to general deterrence because defendants in white-collar crimes often calculate the financial gain and risk of loss, and white-collar crime therefore can be affected and reduced with serious punishment.” Congress shares this concern, noting that small fines create the impression that offenses are “punishable only by a small fine that can be written off as a cost of doing business.”
- Akula’s Profile: Akula is an “intelligent and privileged doctor who was specifically warned against committing the conduct underlying his convictions.” He “displayed selfishness and greed over and over again, month after month, stealing tens of millions of dollars.”
- Disregard for Justice System: Akula “thumbed his nose at the criminal justice system and attempted multiple times to undermine this Court’s rulings.”
- Community Impact and Deterrence: Akula owned one of the largest hospice businesses in the region and has publicly claimed corruption and racial discrimination. His sentence will “reverberate throughout this community” and serve as a crucial deterrent, especially in the heavily regulated healthcare industry. A lenient sentence would “undermine[] public confidence in whether the justice system is doing equal right to the poor and to the rich” and foster the perception of “two different legal standards—one for the powerful, the popular, and the well-connected, and another for everyone else.”
- C. Avoid Unwarranted Sentence Disparities (§ 3553(a)(6))
- National Disparities: This factor refers to national sentencing disparities, with a central reason for the Guidelines being to “ensure stiffer penalties for white-collar crimes and to eliminate disparities between white-collar sentences and sentences for other crimes.”
- Comparable Cases: The government provides a table of other white-collar defendants in the Eastern District of Louisiana who received substantial prison sentences for similar abuses of trust and authority:
- James Perdigao (Partner, $23M loss): 188 months
- Mark St. Pierre (Advisor, $911K loss): 210 months (reduced to 60 months for assistance)
- Walter Reed (District Attorney, $612K loss): 48 months (downward variance due to health)
- Lisa Crinel (Health Care Clinic Owner, $30M loss): 80 months
- Ashton Ryan (Bank President, $996.6M loss): 170 months
- Glenn Diaz (Assistant District Attorney, $900K loss): 87 months
- Shiva Akula (Hospice Owner, $84M loss): TBD
- Akula’s Comparability: Akula is deemed “most similar to Crinel, who pleaded guilty to a $30 million health care fraud scheme, and Perdigao, who stole money through a fraudulent billing scheme and then filed a frivolous civil RICO lawsuit against his former employer.” Given Akula’s larger loss amount and “similarly flaunting his disrespect for the proceedings,” a comparable lengthy prison sentence is warranted.
V. Conclusion
The government respectfully requests that the Court impose a sentence within the guidelines imprisonment range of 360 months to life, arguing it is necessary to reflect the seriousness of the offense, provide just punishment, promote respect for the law, afford adequate deterrence, and avoid unwarranted sentencing disparities.
