A Mississippi man is accused of receiving millions of dollars in Medicare claims despite having been banned by the federal government from providing services to Medicare patients.

A federal grand jury returned an eight-count indictment Tuesday charging Phillip Anthony Minga, 55, of Amory, with wire fraud and health care fraud and with conspiracy to commit wire and health care fraud.

The indictments were announced by U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona and Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Special Agent in Charge Derrick Jackson.

According to the indictment, in October 2016,  Minga was banned from providing services to Medicare participants, after being convicted of criminal insurance fraud.

Minga also signed an agreement that provided that Medicare would not pay claims submitted by anyone who employed Minga in a management or administrative role.  The indictment charges, however, that Minga and others concealed his ownership interests and managerial roles in multiple pharmacies and caused the submission of millions of dollars in claims for reimbursement to Medicare, in violation of his exclusion agreement.

If convicted, Minga faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for wire fraud and ten years in prison for health care fraud, and a $250,000 fine.

The Department of Health and Human Services, Office of  Inspector General, investigated the case along with the State of Mississippi’s Office of the Attorney General and the State of Alabama’s State Board of Pharmacy. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lloyd Peeples and Don Long are prosecuting the case.

An indictment contains only charges.  A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.