A Texas mental health clinic owner was found guilty of a $26 million TRICARE fraud scheme that diverted taxpayer dollars into luxuries including a gold-plated Tesla Cybertruck.
A federal jury in Fort Worth convicted Kevin D. Curry on Thursday on nine criminal counts after prosecutors said he ran a sprawling billing scheme against the military’s health care program and spent the proceeds on high-end living.
Curry, 64, of Frisco, owned and operated mental health clinics in Plano and Fort Worth, Texas, and Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Jurors found him guilty of three counts of health care fraud, three counts of offering and paying illegal health care kickbacks, and three counts of engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison on each count. Sentencing is set for a later date.
Fox News reported the Justice Department’s case in detail: more than $26 million in false, fraudulent, or kickback-tainted claims submitted to TRICARE, with the program ultimately paying about $17 million.
TRICARE covers active-duty servicemembers, retirees, and their families. Prosecutors told the jury Curry’s clinics billed the program for transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, therapy that was medically unnecessary or never provided at all.
They said he paid more than $5.5 million in illegal kickbacks, falsely held himself out as a medical doctor, used licensed doctors’ credentials without their knowledge or consent, and directed the fabrication of medical records to support the claims.
That is not a paperwork glitch. It is a systematic raid on a benefit meant for people who serve.
Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald put the government’s view in plain terms.
McDonald said:
"This defendant exploited a critical health care program serving active-duty servicemembers and their families, diverting taxpayer dollars to bankroll personal luxuries ranging from hotel stays to a casino-themed party and even a gold-plated Tesla Cybertruck,"
U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said Curry "shamelessly preyed on the trust of servicemembers, veterans, and their families," accusing him of fabricating medical records, stealing doctors’ identities, and submitting fraudulent claims while pocketing kickback-tainted money.
Prosecutors tied the crime proceeds to a flashy spending spree. The Justice Department cited hotel stays, a casino-themed party, and a gold-plated Tesla Cybertruck valued at more than $100,000.
The truck is the detail that sticks. Money billed against a program for troops and their families ended up on a custom vehicle built for show.
Federal rules treat laundering criminally derived funds through big-ticket purchases as a separate offense. The jury agreed on three monetary-transaction counts, locking that part of the case into the verdict.
The conviction closed the trial phase. A federal district judge in Fort Worth will set the sentence after weighing the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Each of the nine counts carries a maximum of 10 years. The final term will depend on the guidelines calculation, loss amount, and the judge’s assessment of the full record.
Curry remains the sole named defendant in the material released with the verdict. The clinics sat in three cities across two states, giving the billing operation geographic reach while TRICARE paid the claims.
TRICARE is not a private insurance pool with endless slack. It is a taxpayer-funded system designed to keep troops and their dependents covered. When false claims clear, the money leaves the program and lands in private hands.
Here, prosecutors said roughly $17 million actually went out the door on the tainted claims. That is real cash pulled from a system already stretched by legitimate medical needs.
Kickbacks over $5.5 million compounded the damage. Illegal referral payments turn medical decisions into sales commissions. Patients and payers both lose when the incentive is volume of billing, not care.
Using another doctor’s credentials without consent adds identity theft to the mix. Fabricated charts complete the picture: paper trails built to fool auditors and keep the money flowing.
Juries still matter. After the government laid out the claims volume, the kickback total, the credential misuse, and the luxury purchases, twelve citizens in Fort Worth returned guilty verdicts across the board.
That is how the system is supposed to work when someone treats a military health program like a personal ATM. The case did not end with a quiet settlement or a wrist-slap civil fine. It ended with a criminal conviction on fraud, kickbacks, and dirty-money transactions.
Sentencing will test whether the punishment matches the scale. Nine counts and a $17 million payout to the scheme leave little room for soft treatment if the guidelines are applied as written.
Servicemembers and their families should not have to compete with gold-plated toys for scarce health dollars, and taxpayers should not bankroll the fraudsters who try.
