LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A Las Vegas healthcare executive accused of conspiring to fix the wages of Las Vegas nurses is facing additional charges.
According to the Justice Department, Eduardo Lopez was indicted by a federal grand jury on wage-fixing in March. Investigates stated that Lopez oversaw recruitment, hiring, retention and assignments of nurses and other healthcare staff members at three different home health agencies. The indictment stated he worked with other unnamed co-conspirators by "agreeing to suppress and eliminate competition for the services of nurses between March 2016 and May 2019."
On Thursday, a superseded indictment stated that Lopez is also facing five counts of wire fraud. The new indictment states Lopez sold his healthcare staffing company in Dec. 2021 for over $10 million and "falsely represented to the buyer of his company that federal law enforcement was not investigating him or his company." However, investigators said Lopez knew that was false because FBI special agents had questioned him and served him with a grand jury subpoena.
Justice Department officials said Lopez can face up to 10 years in prison and a fine up to $1 million, if convicted of the wage-fixing charge. If convicted on the wire fraud charges, he's facing up to 20 years in prison.
