Image of nurses' hands at computer keyboard

The Internal Revenue Service is attempting to recoup $8 million from a convicted former Rhode Island nursing home executive, signaling a warning to providers that they can be held liable for misdeeds.

Antonio Giordano filed for Chapter 7 protection in 2011 and said he can’t pay the money to the IRS. In 2006, he  pleaded guilty to taking money from nursing homes as they went into debt, and spent 2½ years in prison.

IRS lawyer James Brown told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Votolato on April 19 that the government had not missed its chance to file a claim against Giordano. In February, Votolato froze the assets of a trust belonging to Giordano’s children. The trustee overseeing Giordano’s bankruptcy said the trust should be considered part of Giordano’s assets; Giordano’s lawyer says the money belongs to his children, according to the Providence Journal.

Giordano was the head of Mount St. Francis Associates, which ran the Mount St. Francis Health Center, along with Coventry Health Center and Hillside Health Center.

A March 2006 report by a regional director at the Office of the Inspector General, Department of Housing and Urban Development said Giordano had made $4.4 million in “questionable cash disbursements” from HUD-insured mortgages. Those actions led to late mortgage payments, lack of money to make payroll, and failure to pay payroll taxes to the IRS, the report said.

Mount St. Francis defaulted on an $8.3-million mortgage and a $1.1-million loan insured by HUD and was placed into receivership in 2006. Hillside closed in 2004; Coventry went into receivership in 2001 and is now owned by Genesis HealthCare.

Giordano’s lawyer contends the government had already exhausted a claim for more than $12 million from Giordano and his associates in recoupment of payroll taxes when Mount St. Francis went into receivership, the Journal reported.