New York leader of an $8 million Medicaid transport scheme sentenced to 95 months; riders were dead, abroad or had never heard of the company
Julio Alvarado pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud and on March 29, 2023 was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kimba M. Wood in the Southern District of New York to 95 months in prison. He was ordered to pay $8.5 million in restitution and to forfeit $8.5 million. Supervising more than a dozen others affiliated with KJ Transportation C Services Inc., he submitted or caused to be submitted false claims for transportation of Medicaid beneficiaries, for which KJ was ultimately paid $20 million.
- Year
- 2023
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $8.5 million
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Medicaid transportation fraud
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-28
The facts, as recorded
- Alvarado led a scheme to defraud New York's Medicaid program, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, as summarized by a law firm that tracks federal fraud announcements.
- While supervising more than a dozen others affiliated with KJ Transportation C Services Inc., he submitted or caused to be submitted false claims for transportation services to Medicaid beneficiaries, for which KJ was ultimately paid $20 million.
- In many of those cases the beneficiary was deceased or out of the country at the time of the alleged transport, or had never heard of or taken rides with KJ.
- In other instances the beneficiary received kickbacks from KJ in exchange for their Medicaid information.
- He pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud and was sentenced to 95 months in prison, according to the HHS Office of Inspector General listing, which headlines the scheme as an $8 million Medicaid fraud.
- He was ordered to pay $8.5 million in restitution and to forfeit $8.5 million in ill-gotten gains.
- Judge Wood imposed the sentence, and the listing is dated March 29, 2023.
Why this case matters
It lists, in one short summary, three kinds of claim that no real ride could support: riders who were deceased, riders who were out of the country, and riders who had never heard of the company. The summary says this was true in “many” of the cases, not all of them. KJ was ultimately paid $20 million, while the restitution and forfeiture ordered were $8.5 million each; the sources do not explain the difference, so this page does not.
Where the identities came from
Some claims were for beneficiaries who had never taken a ride with KJ. The summary does not say how their Medicaid information was obtained. In other instances it says beneficiaries received kickbacks from KJ in exchange for their Medicaid information.
The caveat
Alvarado pleaded guilty and was sentenced, so the conduct above is what the prosecutors’ announcement says. The U.S. Attorney’s Office page itself returned no text when we fetched it, so this page relies on the HHS Office of Inspector General listing, which carries only the headline facts, and on the law firm’s summary of the announcement. The summary does not give the years of the conduct, the number of claims or how the scheme was found, so this page does not either.
Sources
- March 29, 2023 (summary of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announcement). Constantine Cannon. Accessed 2026-10-28. Supports: The KJ Transportation C Services name, the $20 million KJ was paid, the beneficiaries who were deceased, out of the country or had never heard of KJ, the kickbacks for Medicaid information, the more than a dozen people supervised, the restitution and forfeiture of $8.5 million and the sentence of almost eight years.
- Leader of $8 Million Medicaid Fraud Scheme Sentenced to 95 Months in Prison. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. Accessed 2026-10-28. Supports: Alvarado's name, the guilty plea to one count of health care fraud, the 95-month sentence, Judge Kimba M. Wood, the Southern District of New York and the March 29, 2023 date.