California addiction rehab CEO, indicted on federal conspiracy charges, dead at 51

Just days before his death, a federal judge approved Tarek Greiss’s request to travel to Belize with his girlfriend so they could celebrate her grandfather’s 88th birthday in the fall.

Last year, Greiss pleaded not guilty to federal charges of conspiracy and paying for patients at two addiction rehabs where was chief executive, South Coast Counseling and Elite Care Recovery in Costa Mesa. In approving the travel request, the government agreed to temporarily return his passport — a sign of official trust.

But Greiss won’t make the trip. He died on Aug. 6 at age 51, said Sgt. Todd Hylton of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. The cause of death is pending.

“Tarek Greiss dedicated his heart and soul to helping others and he saved hundreds of lives through his love and leadership,” said John L. Littrell, who served as his attorney, by email. “His legacy will not be tarnished by the government’s misguided prosecution of him. Tarek will be remembered as one of the good guys.”

Greiss had a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Washington and an M.D. from George Washington University, according to his biography. He was an anesthesiologist before addiction got him into trouble in several states and cost him his medical license.

He “entered the world of addiction recovery through the front door, as a client,” his bio says. “He is a recovered impaired professional who navigated the very difficult road to durable recovery through an intense trial and error period.” At Elite Care, he developed an “Impaired Professionals Program” to help professionals struggling with addiction to keep or regain their professional stature, his bio says.

“I had the privilege of knowing Tarek the last two years. I stumbled across a part time opportunity at his company and had no idea what lay ahead,” wrote Celeste Martinez, one of many who paid online tributes.

“His energy, vision and commitment lead me to quit my full time job and dive in head first. My passion for nursing was reignited and I have never looked back. He was in the trenches. He would suit up and show up at all hours. I will forever be in his debt for the opportunity and guidance that he provided. My condolences and prayers to all that called him family and a friend.”

Federal officials, however, saw a different picture.

Indicted

Greiss was one of 345 people charged last year in what the U.S. Department of Justice called “a historic nationwide enforcement action” that ensnared more than 100 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals on a wide variety of health care fraud charges.

The feds were listening when Greiss was on the phone with his Tustin marketing firm, SeKe, back in 2019, according to his indictment. A new federal law, the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018, makes giving or receiving money in exchange for addiction treatment referrals a federal crime.

Greiss said he “was hungry for admissions” and low on detox-eligible patients — the people who bring in the biggest insurance payouts, according to the indictment filed under seal Sept. 16. He discussed the monetary value of 19 people — values based on the insurance reimbursements they could generate — and compared that to payments already made to SeKe under a marketing services agreement that prosecutors termed a “sham.”

The government also seized $176,548 during a raid on Greiss’s Costa Mesa home on July 26, 2019. The money was loose and in envelopes, court documents say. “Persons engaged in illegal conduct often maintain currency at their residences, in order to conceal their illegal activity and the funds from law enforcement,” the filing said.

Greiss was paying kickbacks and bribes in exchange for the referral of patients to his facilities, and was also receiving kickbacks and bribes for referring patients to clinical laboratories that provided drug testing, the documents allege.

“(A) single patient enrolled in a substance abuse treatment facility for opiate addiction can result in a substance abuse treatment facility receiving insurance payments of more than $3,000 per day and $90,000 in total depending upon the length of the patient’s stay,” the documents say. “Typically, patients must test positive for drug use before insurance companies will pay substance abuse treatment facilities for Detox treatment. In light of this fact, patient brokers will give prospective patents drugs in order to make sure that the patient tests positive for drugs and thereby becomes eligible for Detox treatment.”

The documents describe a prospective patient in 2017 who was picked up at LAX and taken to a park in Santa Ana. The prospective patient was given Xanax, injected in the neck with methamphetamine and was in detox for seven days before transferring to South Coast Counseling’s rehab center, the filing says.

In 2018, a law enforcement source posed as a potential buyer of Greiss’s rehab businesses. In recorded conversations, Greiss explained how he paid brokers on a per-patient basis, and kept track of those payments on “a secret spreadsheet,” the documents allege. Greiss also spoke about getting kickbacks from labs that perform drug tests, ranging from $35,000 to $50,000 a month, and concealing those payments by having them wired to a separate limited liability company.

Greiss pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and “illegal remunerations for referrals to clinical treatment facilities” on Sept. 28 and was released on a $10,000 bond. He had to surrender his passport and submit to drug testing. Trial was repeatedly postponed due to the pandemic, and was slated to begin March 1.

Generally, when federal prosecutors get official confirmation of a defendant’s death, they move to dismiss the case, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the DOJ.

Indicted

Greiss was one of 345 people charged last year in what the U.S. Department of Justice called “a historic nationwide enforcement action” that ensnared more than 100 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals on a wide variety of health care fraud charges.

The feds were listening when Greiss was on the phone with his Tustin marketing firm, SeKe, back in 2019, according to his indictment. A new federal law, the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018, makes giving or receiving money in exchange for addiction treatment referrals a federal crime.

Greiss said he “was hungry for admissions” and low on detox-eligible patients — the people who bring in the biggest insurance payouts, according to the indictment filed under seal Sept. 16. He discussed the monetary value of 19 people — values based on the insurance reimbursements they could generate — and compared that to payments already made to SeKe under a marketing services agreement that prosecutors termed a “sham.”

The government also seized $176,548 during a raid on Greiss’s Costa Mesa home on July 26, 2019. The money was loose and in envelopes, court documents say. “Persons engaged in illegal conduct often maintain currency at their residences, in order to conceal their illegal activity and the funds from law enforcement,” the filing said.

Greiss was paying kickbacks and bribes in exchange for the referral of patients to his facilities, and was also receiving kickbacks and bribes for referring patients to clinical laboratories that provided drug testing, the documents allege.

“(A) single patient enrolled in a substance abuse treatment facility for opiate addiction can result in a substance abuse treatment facility receiving insurance payments of more than $3,000 per day and $90,000 in total depending upon the length of the patient’s stay,” the documents say. “Typically, patients must test positive for drug use before insurance companies will pay substance abuse treatment facilities for Detox treatment. In light of this fact, patient brokers will give prospective patents drugs in order to make sure that the patient tests positive for drugs and thereby becomes eligible for Detox treatment.”

The documents describe a prospective patient in 2017 who was picked up at LAX and taken to a park in Santa Ana. The prospective patient was given Xanax, injected in the neck with methamphetamine and was in detox for seven days before transferring to South Coast Counseling’s rehab center, the filing says.

In 2018, a law enforcement source posed as a potential buyer of Greiss’s rehab businesses. In recorded conversations, Greiss explained how he paid brokers on a per-patient basis, and kept track of those payments on “a secret spreadsheet,” the documents allege. Greiss also spoke about getting kickbacks from labs that perform drug tests, ranging from $35,000 to $50,000 a month, and concealing those payments by having them wired to a separate limited liability company.

Greiss pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and “illegal remunerations for referrals to clinical treatment facilities” on Sept. 28 and was released on a $10,000 bond. He had to surrender his passport and submit to drug testing. Trial was repeatedly postponed due to the pandemic, and was slated to begin March 1.

Generally, when federal prosecutors get official confirmation of a defendant’s death, they move to dismiss the case, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the DOJ.

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