MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – A Montgomery lawyer tried to hide $1.4 million that the FBI was trying to seize as part of a Medicare fraud investigation involving a Baldwin County company, according to an indictment handed up by a federal grand jury.
Scott McArdle, who lives in Opelika, faces charges of conspiracy to violate the anti-kickback statute and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The charges spring from an investigation that has resulted in criminal charges against two others – Brian Cotugno, who owned a Georgia company called TeleMD; and James Matthew Thornton “Bo” Potter, who owned a company in Spanish Fort called Gulf Coast Molecular Laboratories. Prosecutors allege that the defendants took advantage of temporary federal program in April 2022 to allow Medicare beneficiaries to receive up to eight free COVID-19 test kits per month.
Cotugno and Potter both have pleaded guilty in Mobile’s federal court to fraud charges and await sentencing…