Co-founder of Vancouver testing lab pleads guilty in scheme

A man who co-founded a Vancouver testing lab has pleaded guilty in a kickback scheme involving federal health care programs.

Steven P. Verschoor, 52, of Boise, Idaho, and co-founder of Molecular Testing Labs, pleaded guilty Oct. 30 in U.S. District Court in Seattle, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington. In the plea agreement, Verschoor admitted to paying kickbacks to Bellevue-based Northwest Physicians Laboratory for referring urine tests to be performed at Molecular Testing.

Starting in 2014, Molecular Testing agreed to pay Northwest Physicians as much as $100,000 per month to receive patient urine tests, according to prosecutors. Because Northwest Physicians is physician-owned, it could not test urine samples for patients covered by programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

To conceal the payments, the labs falsely described the fees as marketing services, prosecutors said. Molecular Testing paid a total of $450,000, allowing it to bill the government more than $2 million for urine testing services.

Molecular Testing agreed in December 2018 to pay $1,777,738 to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act. The settlement states that, between August 2014 and July 2015, the lab illegally paid other local labs in exchange for referrals of government health care programs.

Verschoor’s sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 21. He has agreed to pay $461,752 in restitution.

On Wednesday, a grand jury indicted Northwest Physicians and three executives — Ae Lee, 48, of Bellevue; Richard Reid, 50, of Astoria, Ore.; and Kevin Puls, 54, of Bellevue — with conspiracy to solicit and pay kickbacks. They were also charged with four additional counts of receipt of kickbacks.

Court appearances are scheduled for Dec. 5. The conspiracy to pay kickbacks charges carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and the receiving kickbacks charges are punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The case is being investigated by the FBI, Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.