Jamaica-born US doctor charged in bribery, money laundering scheme

Jamaica-born United States medical doctor and entrepreneur Kingsley Chin has been charged along with several others with conspiracy, money laundering and violating anti-kickback laws.

Chin, 57, who resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and who is the founder of medical manufacturing company SpineFrontier, was charged on Tuesday by US authorities.

Chin is also the head of LEDSspine.

Chin, along with the company's chief financial officer, are being accused by federal authorities of listing doctors as consultants and paying them to use the company's devices.

The doctors were reportedly paid between US$250 to US$1,000 per hour to use the company's products.

According to the criminal complaints, the surgical operations in which SpineFrontier's products were used were particularly those paid for by the government-backed Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare and Veterans Health Administration.

The criminal charges followed a civil lawsuit filed by the Justice Department in March 2020.

At the time, prosecutors accused SpineFrontier, Chin, the chief financial officer and several others of incentivising surgeons to use the company's products through kickback payments, allegedly leading to more than $100 million in product sales.

The charges are all in relation to the same alleged scheme through which SpineFrontier and Chin are accused of bribing surgeons to use the company's devices in exchange for “sham” consulting fees between $32,000 and $978,000, according to the court documents.

“Kickback arrangements pollute federal health care programmes and take advantage of patients for financial gains,” said acting US Attorney, Nathaniel R Mendell, in a statement announcing the charges.

“Medical device manufactures must play by the rules, and we will keep pursuing those who fail to do so, regardless of how their corruption is disguised,” he said.

Chin and the chief financial officer of the company are charged with paying millions of dollars in kickbacks and bribes.

Chin, a self-styled “doctorpreneur”, formed SpineFrontier about a decade ago after completing his training at Harvard Medical School.

The company is registered and located in Massachusetts but Chin maintains his medical practice in Hollywood, Florida.

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