Owner Of Bolingbrook Company Sentenced To 5 Years In Prison

BOLINGBROOK, IL — The owner of a medical supply company based out of Bolingbrook has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for paying kickbacks to a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs employee in exchange for procuring orders of medical equipment, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois.

Darren Smith operated a medical distribution company based in Bolingbrook, and from 2017 to 2020, Smith schemed with a procurement clerk in the Veterans Health Administration Prosthetics Service in Chicago to have the VA order costly medical equipment from Smith’s company in exchange for concealed kickbacks to the clerk, a release states.

The orders placed by the clerk involved unnecessary and more expensive rentals of certain medical equipment from Smith’s company instead of purchasing the equipment outright, as VA physicians had instructed, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The VA spent more than $2.7 million at Smith’s company and fraudulently overpaid it by more than $1.3 million. In exchange, the clerk pocketed kickbacks from Smith of at least $220,000.

A federal jury earlier this year convicted Smith, 60, of Hazel Crest, on eight counts of wire fraud. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Edmond E. Chang on Wednesday fined Smith $10,000 and ordered him to pay more than $1.3 million in restitution.

The VA procurement clerk, Andrew Lee, of Chicago, has already pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge prior to trial. He is awaiting sentencing, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

“Instead of paying for essential equipment and supplies for veterans, the defendants used the VA’s money to line their own pockets,” Acting U.S. Attorney Pasqual said in a release. “Our office remains committed to preserving the integrity of the VA health care system.”

“This sentence should send a message that corrupt VA employees will be rooted out and prosecuted,” said Gregory Billingsley, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General, Central Field Office. “These fraudulent activities erode public trust and divert taxpayer money intended for our nation’s deserving veterans. The VA OIG thanks the U.S. Attorney’s Office for their efforts in this investigation.”