A Florida federal judge sentenced four people for their roles in a $54.3 million Medicare fraud scheme that involved paying kickbacks and bribes to telemarketers and telemedicine providers to secure orders for medically unnecessary prescriptions.
From approximately 2018 through 2021, the four individuals paid kickbacks to telemarketing companies in exchange for recruiting Medicare beneficiaries to accept medically unnecessary prescriptions for various medications, according to a Dec. 2 Justice Department news release. They then paid kickbacks and bribes to telemedicine companies that employed physicians who signed the prescriptions. The physicians had no relationship with the beneficiaries and typically signed the prescriptions after a cursory phone conversation or with no contact at all.
The four men sentenced are:
- Luis Lacerda (West Palm Beach): Sentenced to three years and five months and must forfeit $15.6 million and pay $54.3 million in restitution.
- Omar Solari (Fort Lauderdale): Sentenced to two years and six months and must forfeit $6.3 million and pay $36.2 million in restitution.
- Michael Murphy (Fort Lauderdale): Sentenced to 15 months and must forfeit $3.7 million and pay $8.4 million in restitution.
- Joelson Viveros (Boca Raton): Sentenced to five years of probation and must forfeit $894,116 and pay $3 million in restitution.