A Texas mental health counselor is facing significant prison time after a jury found him guilty of orchestrating a massive fraud and kickback scheme targeting TRICARE, the healthcare program for U.S. military members and their families. Kevin Curry, 64, of Frisco, was convicted on September 24 in Fort Worth on multiple counts of health care fraud, money laundering, and paying illegal kickbacks. Prosecutors say Curry used his position as the owner of several clinics across Texas and Florida to siphon millions of dollars from the federal government through deceptive practices.

The scale of the deception was vast, involving more than 26 million dollars in fraudulent claims for transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy that was either medically unnecessary or never actually performed. To pull off the scam, Curry allegedly pretended to be a medical doctor and forged the identities of real physicians without their consent to authorize billing. Evidence presented during the trial revealed that Curry even directed his staff to fabricate medical records to justify these fake treatments, while accepting over 5.5 million dollars in kickbacks to coerce veterans and active-duty service members into consenting to therapies they didn’t need.

While military families were being manipulated, Curry lived a lifestyle funded by the stolen millions. The Department of Justice highlighted his extravagant spending as evidence of his greed, specifically pointing to a gold plated Tesla Cybertruck worth over 100 thousand dollars alongside luxury hotel stays and expensive casino themed parties. US Attorney Ryan Raybould described Curry’s actions as shameless predation on the trust of those who serve the country, stating that such manipulations would meet with the full force of federal prosecution.

Curry now awaits sentencing, where he could potentially face up to ten years in prison for each individual count against him. The extensive investigation that brought him down was a joint effort between the FBI, the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. While TRICARE paid out roughly 17 million dollars before the scheme was uncovered, officials hope this conviction serves as a stern warning to others attempting to defraud federal healthcare systems meant for veterans.