QZ.COM – US Attorney General Merrick Garland deemed a telemedicine fraud operated by the top brass of a software company “one of the largest healthcare fraud schemes ever prosecuted by the Justice Department.”
Executives at DMERx—an online platform that created and sold templates of doctors’ orders—were accused of using mass telemarketing operations to sell the elderly and disabled expensive and unnecessary medical equipment and prescriptions.
Former CEO Brett Blackman, CEO Gary Cox, and vice president of business development Gregory Schreck allegedly used the platform to create fraudulent orders for products like “orthotic braces, prescription skin creams, and other items that were medically unnecessary and ineligible for Medicare reimbursement,” committing fraud to the tune of more than $1.9 billion.
$280,000: Value of the Lamborghini found in 52-year-old Lazaro Hernandez’s possession, which the DoJ thinks was acquired, alongside a $220,000 Mercedes and three boats, from the proceeds of fraud. Hernandez was sentenced to 15 years in prison earlier this month after pleading guilty for his part in a nationwide scheme “to unlawfully distribute more than $230 million in diverted, adulterated, and misbranded medications, including HIV drugs.”
To highlight the impact that healthcare fraud has on taxpayer-funded programs, the DoJ yesterday (June 28) announced charges against 78 people, including the DMERx executives, accused of exploiting various care programs meant to support vulnerable groups, including the elderly people, people with disabilities, opioid addicts, and people at risk of HIV exposure.
The alleged scammers siphoned funds from American taxpayer-programs through telemedicine, pharmaceuticals, opioids, and other healthcare schemes. The stolen funds were then used, in some cases, to purchase luxury items. The federal agency seized or restrained millions of dollars in cash, automobiles, and real estate as part of the national enforcement action. … READ MORE.
