WASHINGTON (CN) - A medical staffing provider accused of submitting fraudulent Medicaid claims cannot pay its attorneys by dipping into the $1.8 million cache of frozen federal reserves, a federal judge ruled.
Claiming to owe its counsel nearly $100,000, Speqtrum Health Care Services moved to have the cash released from the D.C. Health Care Finance Department (DCHCFD).
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg refused last week, saying Speqtrum is not entitled to either the $1.8 million frozen by the court or the remainder of the $4.5 million in Medicaid claims it submitted.
"In seeking the release of monies to pay for attorney fees, defendant has two potential sources: the frozen $1.8 million or the $2.7 million still retained by the DCHCFD," Boasberg wrote.
But neither of these sources are available to Speqtrum, according to the court, which noted that Speqtrum has not demonstrated an inability to pay its attorneys by submitting financial records.
"Absent such, even if the court were inclined to release funds, it would have no basis to do so," Boasberg wrote.
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