Dr. Richard Davidson (41, Boca Raton) has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. Davidson has also agreed to forfeit $2,472,087 to the United States, which represents the proceeds he obtained through the commission of the offense. According to the plea agreement, in 2018, Davidson and his conspirators established a conglomerate of durable medical equipment (“DME”) supply companies. During the creation of the companies, they lied to Medicare to secure billing privileges. The scheme involved placing the companies in the names of straw owners. By concealing their true ownership, the conspirators secretly gained control of multiple companies, which Medicare prohibits. This enabled the conspirators to submit high volumes of illegal DME claims while attempting to evade law enforcement scrutiny. In one year, through the conglomerate, Davidson and his conspirators submitted more than $20 million in illegal DME claims, resulting in more than $10 million in payments from Medicare and the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (“CHAMPVA”). To attain such high volumes of claims, the conspirators used bribes and kickbacks.
