On January 22, the United States Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Florida announced that Absolute Physical & Aquatic Therapy, LLC; Chipley Physical Therapy, LLC; Ruben Laurel; and Lorrie Laurel have agreed to pay $754, 722.88 to settle allegations of the False Claims Act. Defendants Ruben Laurel and Lorrie Laurel own and operate Chipley Physical Therapy, LLC, a Florida-based outpatient physical and aquatic therapy practice. Absolute Physical & Aquatic Therapy, LLC is a private practice therapy group owned and operated in part by Ruben Laurel.

Allegedly, the defendants knowingly submitted 503 false claims for government payment of services performed by Laurel while she was “out of the country and on cruises in Mexico, Jamaica, Aruba, and the Bahamas between July 2019 and March 2024.”

Consistent with the Department of Justice’s priority of eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse in federal programs, U.S. Attorney Heekin said, “I am incredibly proud of the great work by my office to recover these U.S. taxpayer monies that were improperly paid out for false claims submitted by this physical therapy practice…my office will continue to zealously pursue any person or business who tries to rip off the U.S. Government and steal from the U.S. taxpayer.”

The settlement resulted from a qui tam whistleblower lawsuit initiated by Ariel Bowen, a former employee. Qui tam provisions in the False Claim Act enable citizens to file lawsuits on behalf of the government based...

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