Jeffrey Brooks, 40, of Clarence Center, New York, was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. In addition to Brooks’ criminal conviction, last year, Brooks paid $850,000 in a civil settlement to resolve allegations that he provided kickbacks and caused false claims to be submitted in violation of the federal False Claims Act. Evidence presented to the court showed that beginning in or around May 2019, Brooks operated at least eight durable medical equipment (DME) companies, which were located in Fort Pierce, Florida. Through these DME companies, Brooks was charged with conspiring to submit or cause to be submitted false and fraudulent claims to Medicare and CHAMPVA for braces that were not medically necessary, eligible for reimbursement, and/or obtained through the payment of kickbacks and bribes.
Specifically, evidence presented showed that Brooks and his co-conspirators purchased Medicare beneficiaries’ personally identifying information (“PII”) and purported personal health information (“PHI”) from third party call centers in order to generate doctors’ orders for braces. The doctor’s orders were generated by paying illegal kickbacks and bribes to telemedicine companies to obtain a medical practitioner’s signature on the doctor’s orders, regardless of medical necessity. The evidence presented to the court showed that the DME companies controlled by Brooks caused Medicare to be billed over $29 million in false and fraudulent claims.
