The US Supreme court has rejected the appeal of Phillip Esformes, clearing the path for his continued prosecution on six counts related to a massive nursing home fraud scheme.
Esformes was convicted in 2019 on 20 counts relating to an elaborate $1.3 billion scheme, but was pardoned by President Trump in 2020. Prosecutors say they can continue to pursue his conviction on six counts that the 2019 jury could not reach a decision on and that the pardon, therefore, did not cover.
The Supreme Court did not publicly explain why it turned away Esformes’ appeal Monday, but its decision allows the unusual re-prosecution of a high profile fraud case in which the defendant has already been convicted, imprisoned, and subsequently pardoned.
The defense argued that the government improperly seized and utilized documents protected by attorney-client privilege and that the current prosecution should be thrown out as a result.
The 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta, however, unanimously struck down that argument early this year.
“The district court applied the correct legal standard and found that the privilege violations did not prejudice Esformes because the privileged materials did not serve as either the basis for the charges against him or the evidence admitted at trial,” the ruling stated.
The court also confirmed that Esformes was potentially liable for up to $44 million — most of which would be paying back the amount he was found to have personally profited from the fraud scheme, but also including more than $5 million in restitutions.
Esformes’ attorneys say the court’s decision raises troubling questions about double jeopardy — the legal principle under which a person cannot be prosecuted twice for the same offense.
But with the High Court’s decision kicking prosecution back to the lower courts, Esformes is not yet legally off the hook for what Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell called in 2016, “the largest single criminal health care fraud case ever brought against individuals by the Department of Justice.”
