A New York man has been sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison for a Medicare fraud scheme involving durable medical equipment.
Beginning around May 2019, Jeffrey Brooks, 40, of Clarence Center, submitted false claims to Medicare from eight equipment companies he owned and operated in Fort Pierce, Fla., according to a Jan. 19 news release from the Justice Department.
Mr. Brooks and his co-conspirators allegedly purchased Medicare beneficiaries' personal information from third-party call centers to generate physicians' orders for medically unnecessary braces. He obtained these orders through illegal kickbacks and bribes to telemedicine companies.
He was also the beneficial owner of a call center in Greenville, S.C., that purchased the personal identifiable information of Medicare patients. According to the release, Mr. Brooks caused Medicare to be billed more than $29 million in fraudulent claims.
Mr. Brooks also paid $850,000 in a civil settlement to resolve allegations that he provided kickbacks and caused false claims last year.