A Las Vegas healthcare staffing executive faces new fraud charges after previously being indicted for conspiring to fix the wages of nurses, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada announced.
On Sept. 6, a federal grand jury in Las Vegas issued a superseding indictment with the new charges.
The executive, Eduardo Lopez of Las Vegas, was indicted in March on one count of conspiring to fix the wages of nurses in the Las Vegas region, in violation of the Sherman Act, according to the office. The superseding indictment still alleges conspiracy to fix wages but adds counts claiming Lopez concealed the government’s investigation into him so that he could sell his company for $10 million.
Lopez sold his healthcare staffing company for more than $10 million in December 2021 and falsely represented to the buyer that federal law enforcement was not investigating him or his company, according to the office. However, it cited court documents that indicated Lopez knew he was under investigation and that FBI special agents had questioned him, served him with a grand jury subpoena and seized his cell phone.
The previous indictment focused on just the wage-fixing allegations. Lopez held executive positions at three different home health agencies where he oversaw recruiting, hiring, retention and assignment of nurses and other healthcare staff, according to the office. Lopez and other unnamed co-conspirators allegedly agreed to suppress and eliminate competition for the services of nurses between March 2016 and May 2019. Specifically, they are charged with participating in a series of meetings to fix wages of nurses.
Violating the Sherman Act carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for individuals, which can be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by victims if either amount is greater than the statutory maximum. Wire fraud violations have a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.