A South Carolina man who owned at least 10 durable medical equipment companies was sentenced to nine years in prison for what the Justice Department called "one of the largest Medicare fraud schemes in history."
Andrew Chmiel, 48, of Mount Pleasant, used the companies he owned throughout the U.S. to submit fraudulent claims to Medicare for braces that were not medically necessary or were obtained through kickbacks and bribes, according to a March news release from the Justice Department. In total, Medicare was billed for more than $200 million, of which it paid out $95 million to Mr. Chmiel's companies.
The charges against Mr. Chmiel were brought in 2019 as part of Operation Brace Yourself, an investigation that involved the execution of more than 80 search warrants in 17 federal districts, the release said.