Let us start this post with a biography that appears, but probably not for too long on the Allure Medical Spa website, “Dr. Charles Mok received his medical degree from Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine…he completed his medical residency at Mount Clemens General Hospital, Mt. Clemens, Michigan.”
Fair enough. A D.O. is very a respected degree and we’ve no reason to doubt his residency was genuine. We would even nod our heads that there were years when Mok helped a great many people. Something went terribly wrong as Mok went from being a healer to a fraudster.
The Raid
The FBI raided the Allure Medical Spa April 2020. According to federal prosecutors, “(he) used the COVID-19 pandemic to bill insurers for vitamin C infusions fraudulently presented as COVID-19 treatments and preventative measures.”
If that wasn’t bad enough, the clinic was its own “hot spot” where those with and without the virus were basically sitting next to each other.
Mok allegedly had the audacity to call other physicians cowards for criticizing the fact that he had employees treating patients who themselves had the virus. He called out legitimate healthcare providers on YouTube and on local television.
Allure’s main specialty is in the treatment of varicose veins and hormone therapy. Dr. Mok allegedly added other procedures such as treating COVID-19. The Allure Medical Spa operates in eight states with several clinics in Michigan. The medical spa system carried this statement, in part, on their site:
“…our nation cannot handle the burden on our hospital systems, ER doctors and nurses when they are already at capacity and overloaded.”
Mok took it upon himself to administer Vitamin C, making fake claims and irrational treatments. Without fully disclosing his scam treatments, he made videos telling future patients he was infusing patients with the same medications as were the hospitals. It was an out and out lie. There is no proof whatsoever that Vitamin C therapy works.
Mok got away with it for a while, billing Medicare for varicose vein treatments he never performed as a cover for treating COVID-19. Michigan began to look into the clinic as cases of COVID-19 began to skyrocket in certain areas.
10 Years
Mok, a “healer” is facing 10 years. In the court filing, the prosecutors said the said things any rational person might think, that Mok knew he was committing fraud. When clinic personnel began to cooperate with authorities, the prosecutors found nearly 100 false claims were submitted. In fact, the Medicare billing amounted to $41.4 million worth of treatments, some of which were as much as five times as much as the next highest practice nationwide.
Despite the fact that all other legitimate practices that treated varicose veins were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mok kept up his treatments; both unnecessary vein procedures and his COVID-19 procedures. In the three weeks the governor had closed down legitimate clinics, Mok and the Allure Medical Spa treated 950 patients despite the fact that five of the technicians and office personnel tested positive. In his commercials, Mok called all of it hype.
The fear and anxiety surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic has forced irrational behaviors and Mok took advantage of this. In fact, he seized the opportunity to presented to commit a multi-million-dollar fraud.
His need to do this was based on money, pure and simple. He kept the clinics open, helped to spread the disease and covered up false treatments out of greed. The rationalization for this action was that in his mind, COVID-19 was either no-big-deal or Medicare was a giant slot machine that owed him something.
Fraud meant nothing to this physician because ethics meant nothing. Unless, ethical training is in place, this type of fraud will repeat itself. How many have come close to dying because the system failed to train this man? Physicians must be ethically monitored.
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