A luxury plane belonging to a man found guilty of leading a fraud scheme through the former Ellwood City Medical Center was sold in bankruptcy proceedings. A Kentucky bankruptcy judge Thursday approved the sale of Daniel Hurt’s Gulfstream Aerospace Model GV jet with two Rolls-Royce jet airport engines. Hurt, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $97 million in restitution for leading a Medicare fraud scheme in Ellwood City, New Jersey and Florida.
The jet and its contents were sold for $9 million to Avex XVI LLC, of Fort Lauderdale. The next highest bidder was Aircraft Holding Inc., also of Fort Lauderdale, for $8.
95 million. The sale of the aircraft was organized by Carol Fox, the Chapter 11 liquidating trustee of Americore Holdings, the former owner of the medical center. Court papers indicate beginning in late 2018 and continuing through October 2019, Hurt and the entities he controlled participated in the scam by illegally sending cancer genomic testing samples to the ECMC for Medicare reimbursements.
Medicare reimbursed the ECMC more than $25 million. Story continues below video The ECMC was owned by Americore Holdings from Sept. 22, 2017, until it closed on Jan.
31, 2020, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Through negotiations with Fox, Hurt and his parties agreed to pay $17.7 million in an initial settlement in February.
As part of the restitution, the court also authorized the seizure and sale of a $3.