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Man pleads guilty to health insurance scam

Posted at 7:20 PM, Jan 24, 2017
and last updated 2018-11-21 17:45:50-05

A California man has pleaded guilty for his role in a health insurance scam that involved Nevadans.

Richard Raymond Ruppert, 53, pleaded guilty to one count of multiple transactions involving fraud or deceit in the course of an enterprise or occupation and one count of insurance fraud. The fraudulent acts were committed between September 2011 and July 2012.
 
Ruppert participated in a scheme to defraud customers of a personal training business by charging their health insurance companies for medical services that were never provided. He and three codefendants, Shy Shalom Azoulay, Daniel Frank Massey and Charlene Pangelinan Sippio operated a personal training business under the company names of Human Performance Enhancement and My Wellness Expert.

They billed more than $800,000 and were paid over $100,000 before the insurance companies began denying their claims. Ruppert is the fourth and final defendant to enter a guilty plea in this case.
 
The sentencing hearing for Ruppert is scheduled for May 22.
 
This case was investigated and prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Insurance Fraud Unit.

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