Apparently it’s been over two years since I documented here. My lawyers warned me against putting things in writing, and honestly I have never been much of a journaling person. But that will change as of today…
Yesterday I officially accepted a plea deal for one felony healthcare fraud. Nearly six years after learning about the investigation, and over three-and-a-half years since the indictment, I acknowledge that I am guilty. I am a felon. I accept responsibility. Obviously I am not happy about this turn of events, but there is definitely peace and even a little joy knowing that this is the beginning of the end of all of this.
Just like all of my court hearings, yesterday was in St Louis. By the time we arrived back in Kansas City about six hours after the hearing, the DOJ press release was public and I would soon be in the news, again. Not really a big deal for me, but I wish my kids didn’t have to go through any of this. I will spend my whole life repairing the image of those press releases, starting here and now.
On one hand, I wish it hadn’t taken me this long to get here. But on the other hand, I think it was necessary for me to go through trying to defend and mitigate my plea deal and potential sentence. I know that what I did was wrong and was willing to plead guilty, but I needed to try to reduce the loss numbers the government claimed and minimize my potential sentence. Unfortunately, this made everyone’s jobs more difficult, and I dragged all of this out much longer than necessary. For this I apologized to the ADA and the HHS investigator after the hearing yesterday. I’m not sure how it was received by them, but I felt it was necessary for them to know and for my own conscience and healing. My sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 17.
