(The Center Square) − A New Orleans doctor accused of submitting at least $5.9 million in false Medicare and Medicaid claims allegedly used health care payments to cover fuel and a captain’s salary for his yacht in Biloxi, Mississippi, according to a federal indictment.
Dr. Christopher K. Whipple also allegedly used the money to finance a 2025 Ford Explorer and pay other personal expenses while operating what prosecutors describe as a yearslong health care fraud scheme. Medicare and Medicaid paid at least $800,000 on the allegedly fraudulent claims, according to the indictment.
Whipple was indicted June 22 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on two counts of health care fraud. The New Orleans physician owned and operated Trompe Couillon Adventures LLC and Prestige Medical Staffing and Marketing, while Trompe employed doctors and other medical providers who treated patients in nursing homes and other facilities.
Federal prosecutors allege Whipple used those providers — and sometimes his own name — to bill Medicare, Medicaid and private insurer Humana for care that was never provided or was falsely represented.
The scheme allegedly began around January 2020. Prosecutors said Whipple controlled Trompe’s billing systems and retained access to claims even after physicians entered them, allowing him to review and edit bills before they were submitted.
In one example, investigators said Whipple submitted more than 70 claims for treatment of a patient he had never treated. In another, he allegedly submitted 29 claims for in-person care in Louisiana while he was in Hawaii on or around July 18, 2024, through Aug. 2, 2024.
Prosecutors also accuse Whipple of billing health programs under the names of other medical providers for services those providers did not perform.
The indictment alleges Whipple submitted more than 500 claims asserting one physician provided care on dates when that doctor was not working. Trompe also allegedly submitted more than 100 claims naming another physician as the provider after that doctor had stopped treating patients at the nursing homes or at locations where the physician had never worked.
Some of the allegations involve patients who had already died.
Federal prosecutors said Trompe submitted more than 350 claims for deceased beneficiaries with service dates occurring after their deaths. Whipple also allegedly instructed providers to sign medical records for care they had not provided. One physician was asked to sign approximately 99 such patient records but refused, according to the indictment.
The indictment says Medicare contractors had previously flagged Whipple’s billing practices. AmeriHealth Caritas and Novitas sent notices describing his billing as abnormal, including one notice that characterized him as a statistical billing outlier compared with peers, prosecutors said. Despite those warnings and educational materials intended to correct the billing, Whipple allegedly continued submitting claims using the same codes.
Money from health care programs was deposited into a Regions Bank account controlled by Whipple, prosecutors allege. He then transferred money to other accounts and used it for personal purchases, including the Ford Explorer and yacht expenses.