A Florida owner of several telemedicine companies was indicted Aug. 10 on charges that he orchestrated a scheme involving the submission of over $784 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
Creaghan Harry, 53, of Highland Beach, Fla., was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud and four counts of income tax evasion.
In 2019, Mr. Harry was charged, along with several co-conspirators, with one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., four counts of receipt of kickbacks, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering
According to prosecutors, Mr. Harry and his co-conspirators solicited kickbacks and bribes from durable medical equipment suppliers and marketers in exchange for orders. His telemedicine companies also allegedly paid physicians to write orders for braces and other equipment regardless of medical necessity. The scheme resulted in the durable medical equipment suppliers fraudulently billing Medicare more than $784 million, of which Medicare ended up paying about $247 million.
Prosecutors also say Mr. Harry directed suppliers not to pay his telemedicine companies but instead to pay shell companies opened in straw owners' names in the U.S. and foreign countries in an effort to conceal the scheme. Mr. Harry committed income tax evasion between 2015 and 2018 by receiving the proceeds in the accounts of shell companies, according to the indictment.
A federal grand jury in Newark, N.J., returned the indictment.
Mr. Harry faces up to 60 years in prison.