Massive $62 MILLION Insurance Fraud Scheme Lands Local Montana Nurse in Prison
A Montana nurse practitioner pulled off an audacious $62 million insurance scam, faking claims and misusing a colleague’s credentials. đ #News #MissoulaMT #Montana #Crime
MISSOULA, MT – A shocking case of fraud unraveled in Montana, leaving a trail of deceit and massive financial damage. On Friday, a former nurse practitioner was sentenced to five years in federal prison for orchestrating an audacious scheme that involved submitting over $62 million in false insurance claims for vitamin B-12 injections that never happened.
Tristan Ashley Svejkovsky, 41, pleaded guilty in August 2024 to health care fraud and misusing a DEA registration number that belonged to another medical professional. Her sentencing also includes three years of supervised release after her prison term, according to the U.S. Attorneyâs Office for the District of Montana.
License Suspended, But the Fraud Continued
Svejkovskyâs nursing license was suspended on April 1, 2022, by the Montana Board of Nursing. Despite the suspension, she continued prescribing controlled substances under her own name and DEA registration number until June 2022. After being contacted by the DEA, she agreed to surrender her registration.
However, instead of stopping, Svejkovsky found another way to keep her illegal activities going. She convinced a friend, another nurse practitioner, to allow her access to their DEA number, falsely claiming her license was only on probation. Svejkovsky assured her friend that she would not misuse the informationâbut the reality was far different.
Court documents reveal that Svejkovsky wrote at least 28 prescriptions using her friendâs DEA number, compounding her legal troubles.
Fraudulent Claims Reach Shocking Levels
The fraudulent activity began in August 2021 and centered on falsified claims for vitamin B-12 injections. Svejkovsky manipulated the system by inflating the standard dosage of a B-12 injection from one unit to an outrageous 1,000 units. This boosted the reimbursement for each injection from approximately $4.88 to a staggering $4,880.
Even after her license was suspended, Svejkovsky backdated claims to before her suspension and continued submitting them to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana. By May 2022, she escalated her scheme further, submitting claims billing as much as $15 million per injection.
In total, she filed fraudulent claims amounting to $62,310,000. Out of that astronomical figure, she received $613,108 in payments before the scheme was uncovered.
Svejkovskyâs actions culminated in her being ordered to pay $613,108 in restitution. Despite the seriousness of her crimes, the court allowed her to self-report to the U.S. Marshals Service to begin her prison sentence.
RELATED TOPICS: Crime | Montana
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