Tag: Operation Brace Yourself

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice has announced criminal charges against 138 defendants for their alleged participation in various health care fraud schemes, including those involving telemedicine and DME, that have resulted in about $1.4 billion in alleged losses.  Of the total, 43 defendants have been charged for their participation in schemes involving telemedicine, resulting in $1.1 billion in alleged losses. Certain telemedicine execs allegedly paid doctors and nurse...

DALLAS – A federal jury has convicted Dallas area owners and operators of two DME companies of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United states and to pay and receive health care kickbacks, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. According to evidence presented at trial, Leah Hagan and Michael Hagen, the owners and operators of Metro DME Supply and Ortho Pain Solutions, paid a fixed rate per DME item in exchange for prescriptions and paperwork completed by telemedicine doctors...

TAMPA, Fla. – Kelly Wolfe, president of Regency Inc., a medical billing company, has agreed to plead guilty to criminal health care and tax fraud, and to pay $20.3 million in a civil False Claims Act settlement.  Wolfe, of Indian Rocks Beach, Fla., faces a maximum penalty of 13 years in federal prison.  Wolfe and her conspirators used Regency to establish dozens of DME shell companies, placing the shell companies in the names of straw...

BOSTON – Two women have pleaded guilty to charges they participated in a scam to defraud Medicare of more than $109 million by filing false claims for orthotic braces. Jessica Jones, 30, of Louisville Colo., and Elizabeth Putulin, 30, of Coconut Creek, Fla., who have each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, conspired with their employer, Juan Camilo Perez Buitrago, to submit more than $109 million in false and fraudulent claims for DME, such...

SAVANNAH, Ga. - Patrick Wolfe, operator of Wilmington Island Medical in Georgia, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy for his role in a scheme in which he paid kickbacks in return for leads for DME like orthotic braces and then billed Medicare Part B for the items.This prosecution stems from “Operation Brace Yourself,” a nationwide fraud takedown of a $1.2 billion scheme uncovered in 2019.The combined total of fraud charged in these Georgia cases, which include eight physicians,...

SAVANNAH, Ga. - Roderic Bain, the CEO of several DME companies based here, has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for allegedly defrauding Medicare of millions of dollars. Bain, who pleaded guilty to one count of false statements relating to healthcare matters, was also ordered to pay $1.9 million in fines and restitution. It's the first sentence handed down in “Operation Brace Yourself,” a nationwide fraud takedown that saw 24 defendants charged for their roles in a $1.2...