Arizona couple sentenced to about 15 and 14 years over $1.2 billion in wound-graft claims
Alexandra Gehrke, 39, and her husband Jeffrey King, 46, both of Phoenix, Arizona, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud over a scheme that submitted $1,212,005,778 in false claims for amniotic wound grafts between November 2022 and May 2024. Gehrke's companies hired sales representatives with no medical training to find elderly and hospice patients with wounds and order grafts from one distributor, which paid her companies more than $279 million in kickbacks. King's company supplied nurse practitioners who applied the grafts and billed Medicare and other insurers, which paid $614,990,420. Courthouse News reported that Gehrke was sentenced to 15 years and King to 14 years in October 2025, with restitution of more than $614 million and more than $605 million.
- Year
- 2025
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $615.0 million
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Skin substitute and wound graft fraud
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-19
The facts, as recorded
- Gehrke ran Apex Medical LLC and Viking Medical Consultants LLC, which contracted with sales representatives. King co-owned a company that contracted with nurse practitioners to apply the grafts and billed the insurers.
- Gehrke's companies hired sales representatives with no medical training to find elderly patients with wounds, including hospice patients, and order amniotic grafts from one graft distributor.
- Representatives were directed to order grafts sized 4x6 centimeters or larger, even when wounds were much smaller, and were financially incentivized to do so, which maximized insurer reimbursement.
- Gehrke received over $279 million in kickbacks from the distributor in exchange for the orders, and passed tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks to the sales representatives.
- Gehrke and King, neither of whom had medical training, directed the nurse practitioners to set aside their own medical judgment and apply all ordered grafts, so grafts were applied to infected wounds, to wounds that had already healed and to wounds that did not respond to treatment.
- From November 2022 through May 2024 the couple submitted $1,212,005,778 in false and fraudulent claims, including claims of over $960 million to Medicare, TRICARE and CHAMPVA. Federal and private insurers paid $614,990,420.
- Gehrke pleaded guilty on October 24, 2024 to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud. King pleaded guilty to the same two charges, as announced by the Justice Department on January 31, 2025.
- The plea agreements set restitution at $614,990,420 for Gehrke and $605,690,110 for King, and forfeiture of over $410 million collectively. Nearly $100 million in assets had been seized, including over $68 million in bank balances, four luxury vehicles, $22 million in life insurance annuities, and jewelry and precious metals.
- Courthouse News Service reported on October 10, 2025 that King was sentenced to 14 years and ordered to pay more than $605 million in restitution, two days after Gehrke was sentenced to 15 years and ordered to repay over $614 million.
Why this case matters
It is the largest case documented here, and the clearest account of the three layers: a distributor that paid kickbacks, a sales operation that found patients, and a clinical company that applied the product and billed for it. The Justice Department describes the patients as elderly and terminally ill, including hospice patients, and the grafts as expensive and medically unnecessary.
A graft sized for the bill
The detail that recurs in the Justice Department’s account is size. Representatives were directed to order grafts of 4x6 centimeters or larger even when wounds were much smaller, and were financially incentivized to do so. The release says this maximized insurer reimbursement. The clinical decision was set aside as well: the nurse practitioners were directed to apply all ordered grafts, which the release says meant grafts on infected wounds, healed wounds and wounds that did not respond to treatment.
The caveat
Both defendants pleaded guilty and have been sentenced, so the conduct is taken from the Justice Department’s account of pleas. Reports differ slightly on the length of Gehrke’s sentence: Courthouse News reported 15 years and the Senior Medicare Patrol reported more than 15 years, so this page says about 15 years, and the Justice Department’s own sentencing release was not read for this page. The distributor is not named in the release and this page does not guess at it. No patient is named.
Sources
- Arizona Couple Pleads Guilty to $1.2B Health Care Fraud. US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs. Accessed 2026-10-19. Supports: The defendants and their companies, the sales representatives, the oversized orders, the over $279 million in kickbacks, the instruction to the nurse practitioners and the wounds the grafts were applied to, the November 2022 to May 2024 period, the $1,212,005,778 claimed and $614,990,420 paid, the pleas, the restitution and forfeiture and the seizures.
- Arizona Medicare fraudster gets 14 years. Courthouse News Service. Accessed 2026-10-19. Supports: King's 14-year sentence and restitution of more than $605 million, Gehrke's sentence of 15 years and restitution of over $614 million two days earlier, and the account of the indictment including the instruction to target hospice facilities.
- Update: Pair Sentenced in Wound Grafts Scheme. Senior Medicare Patrol Resource Center. Accessed 2026-10-19. Supports: The October 2025 sentences of more than 15 years for Gehrke and 14 years for King, and the description of the grafts as applied to elderly patients, many terminally ill and in hospice.