Billy Joe 'Bildo' Taylor, the manic-playing poker whale who briefly lit up the Texas livestreamed cash-game scene, will be sentenced on March 8, 2023 after pleading guilty to a massive, multi-state Medicare fraud scheme that likely funded his brief fling with streamed-game poker stardom.
Taylor, 43, of Lavaca, Arkansas, pled guilty in late October to felony charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. From November 2017 through May 2021, Taylor owned and operated, in partnership with other co-conspirators, several medical lab-test facilities across the United States. As acknowledged in the plea deal, Taylor's labs submitted roughly $130 million in Medicare claims and received over $38 million in payments for tests never ordered by medical patients or their physicians.
Taylor's March 8 sentencing date was set on Tuesday by the case's presiding judge, U.S. District of Western Arkansas Judge Mark E. Ford. Taylor faces up to 20 years in prison in addition to a civil forfeiture of $38.34 million, the amount of funds fraudulently received.
Legal difficulties for 'Bildo', as he was known in poker, surfaced in June of 2021, when he was initially charged with $88 million in Medicare theft, including $42 million for fraudulent COVID-related testing.
