Florida woman convicted of telemarketing scheme for unnecessary orthotic braces

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A federal jury in the Middle District of Florida has convicted a Florida woman who owned a durable medical equipment (DME) company and managed several other DME companies for her role in a fraud scheme that took advantage of the elderly and disabled and caused the submission of more than $8.6 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, according to the Department of Justice. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Sophie Dufort, 57, of Gainesville, Fla., conspired with Paula Pirone, 70, of Ocala, Fla., and others to submit fraudulent claims to Medicare based on fake doctor prescriptions for orthotic braces. Dufort and her co-conspirators illegally purchased these prescriptions from purported marketing companies that engaged in high pressure and manipulative telemarketing calls to get Medicare beneficiary information. The marketing companies then paid medical practitioners to sign prescriptions for orthotic braces without contacting or evaluating the patients, or stole doctor credentials to create forged prescriptions, and then sold those prescriptions to Dufort’s DME companies, or those of her co-conspirators. Dufort and her co-conspirators then shipped braces to the Medicare beneficiaries and billed Medicare for millions of dollars in claims, despite the fact that the beneficiaries did not want or need the braces and no doctor had examined the beneficiary to determine if they needed the braces. The defendant was convicted of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, two counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to offer and pay illegal kickbacks, and one count of offering and paying illegal kickbacks.  Dufort faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, 10 years in prison for each health care fraud count and kickback count, and 5 years in prison for conspiracy to defraud the United States and to offer and pay illegal kickbacks.  A sentencing hearing is scheduled in Jan. 2027.