U.S. v. Guerrero

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting government’s motion for summary judgment in petitioner’s action seeking declaration that he held superior interest to certain assets that government claimed were subject to forfeiture in underlying criminal action that resulted in guilty verdict on healthcare fraud and money laundering charges involving nursing home to which petitioner held equity interest. Underlying indictment alleged that petitioner’s wife and others used instant nursing home to wrongfully bill Medicare for services rendered to purportedly homebound patients, knowing that said patients neither received nor were eligible for said services. Petitioner, though, did not accompany his claim with any financial tracing to determine whether assets that were at issue in preliminary order of forfeiture were derived from petitioner’s initial investment in nursing home. Moreover, summary judgment in favor of government was proper, where government asserted that: (1) it was able to trace resources used to purchase said assets from funds Medicare deposited into various accounts controlled by defendant in underlying criminal case; and (2) its tracing analysis did not show that any of petitioner’s initial investment in nursing home went towards purchase of subject assets.