Quick Hit:

Keaton Langston, an associate of James Biden, has pleaded guilty to defrauding Medicare of $51 million through a scheme involving pharmacies, DME companies, and a laboratory.

Key Details:

• Langston admitted to using pharmacies, DME companies, and a laboratory to bill Medicare for unnecessary tests and orders.
• James Biden, while not accused of criminal wrongdoing, has historical financial ties to Langston and his family.
• The fraudulent activities involved offering kickbacks and bribes to obtain doctors’ orders for unnecessary medical services.

Diving Deeper:

Keaton Langston, a former business associate of James Biden, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud Medicare of $51 million through a lab-testing scheme linked to the president's brother. Langston, 39, confessed to using pharmacies, durable medical equipment (DME) companies, and a laboratory in which he had a financial interest to bill for unnecessary tests and medical orders, according to the Justice Department.

The scheme involved offering and paying kickbacks and bribes in exchange for doctors’ orders for DME, genetic cancer screening tests, and compounded medications. The fraudulent claims were submitted to Medicare without regard to medical necessity, with proceeds funneled back to conspirators as payments for the doctors’ orders.

Records show James Biden was involved with Fountain Health, the lab company founded by Langston, in 2017. Subsequently, James Biden connected with Americore Health, which provided him with $600,000 in loans in 2018. James allegedly promised to use his political connections to secure foreign investors. Notably, he passed $200,000 of these funds to Joe Biden as an alleged loan repayment.

In July 2017, shortly after Fountain Health launched, Joey Langston, Keaton's father, emailed James Biden and his son Keaton about a meeting for Fountain Health partners. This email indicated James Biden's involvement in business dealings that may have been intertwined with the fraudulent activities.

Paul Fishman, an attorney for James Biden, previously stated that his client "conducted himself ethically and honorably in all his business dealings." Despite this, James Biden's historical financial ties to the Langston family raise questions about the extent of his involvement.

Keaton Langston agreed in September to repay Americore $240,000 in a civil settlement, while James Biden agreed in 2022 to repay Americore $350,000. The financial connections between the Bidens and the Langstons have been longstanding, with Joey Langston hosting fundraisers for Joe Biden during his Senate career.

Joey Langston, a wealthy Mississippi lawyer, pleaded guilty in 2008 to participating in a plot to bribe a judge and was sentenced to three years in federal prison. He was seeking to overturn his conviction when he made loans to James Biden. Joey Langston's alleged co-conspirator, attorney Dickie Scruggs, was involved in another bribery case, during which James Biden was wiretapped by the FBI in 2007.

Despite Joe Biden's consistent claims that he never discussed business with his son or brother, evidence, including photos, emails, and witness statements, suggests otherwise. Biden has been documented interacting with his son and brother’s associates from various international business ventures.

James Biden's partnerships with Hunter Biden in multiple ventures further complicate the narrative, with allegations that he was not always subtle about leveraging Joe Biden's political influence. In the early 2000s, James allegedly boasted about global interest in investing in Joe Biden as he and Hunter were acquiring investment bank Paradigm.