NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (Criminal - Criminal White Collar and Corporate Enforcement), published as received.
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – ROBERT TASSIN, M.D. (“TASSIN”), age 67, of Slidell, Louisiana, was sentenced on April 9, 2026, for conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1347 and 1349, in connection with a scheme to bill Medicare for medically unnecessary cancer genetic (“CGx”) tests, announced United States Attorney David I. Courcelle.
On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division. The core mission of the Fraud Division is to zealously investigate and prosecute those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars. Department of Justice efforts to combat fraud support President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.
According to court documents, TASSIN worked for several purported telemedicine companies. From approximately February through September of 2019, TASSIN, through the purported telemedicine companies, signed doctors’ orders for CGx tests for Medicare beneficiaries he never saw, spoke to, or otherwise treated. As a result, TASSIN’s orders resulted in over $6.6 million in false and fraudulent claims submitted to Medicare, of which Medicare reimbursed over $2 million. To conceal and perpetuate the fraud, TASSIN made several false and fraudulent statements in support of the orders he submitted, including falsely certifying in medical records that the CGx tests were medically necessary for the patients’ treatment. In exchange for electronically reviewing patient charts and ordering CGx tests, TASSIN was paid a set fee per doctor’s order, typically $30.
Unites States District Judge Barry W. Ashe sentenced TASSIN to three years of probation, with the first twelve months to be served in home confinement, and a ban on participating in a healthcare business during probation without prior approval from United States Probation. Consistent with the plea agreement, Judge Ashe also ordered TASSIN to pay restitution of $2,043,542.23 to Medicare; $106,757 in forfeiture (which TASSIN paid the day of sentencing); and a mandatory $100 special assessment fee.
U.S. Attorney Courcelle praised the work of the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. Trial Attorneys Kelly Walters and Zakeria Haidary of the Fraud Division’s Healthcare Fraud Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Moses, for the Eastern District of Louisiana, prosecuted the case.
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