Daily Tribune
US fraud suspect Herbert Leon Kimble, wanted by the FBI for allegedly orchestrating a $2 billion healthcare scam involving unnecessary orthopedic braces billed to Medicare, has been arrested in Pasig City and deported by Philippine authorities, who stress the country will not be a sanctuary for international fugitives.
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has arrested an American national tagged as a high-priority target by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said 60-year-old American national Herbert Leon Kimble was arrested in Pasig City on 11 June.
BI fugitive search unit agents, together with government intelligence officers, arrested Kimble in a commercial area in Pasig City.
The American national is the subject of a federal arrest warrant issued by the United States District Court in South Carolina for allegedly orchestrating a healthcare fraud scheme that defrauded U.S. government-funded healthcare programs of more than $2 billion.
Authorities said the scheme involved the fraudulent marketing and distribution of unnecessary orthopedic braces billed to Medicare.
"The Philippines will not serve as a sanctuary for fugitives seeking to evade justice in their home countries," said Viado. "These arrests demonstrate our commitment to working closely with international law enforcement partners to ensure that foreign nationals who pose a threat to public safety are located, arrested, and removed from our communities."
Kimble was deported last 18 June and has since been included in the BI’s blacklist.
