A federal jury in Dallas, Texas, convicted the owners and operators of four orthotic brace suppliers in Texas and Arkansas for a $6.5 million illegal kickback scheme, including violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Bruce Stroud, 40, Bobbi Stroud, 39, husband and wife and residents of Prosper, Texas, and Kenric Griffin, 52, of Frisco, Texas, jointly owned and operated four orthotic brace suppliers: New Horizons Durable Medical Equipment, Striffin Medical Supply, 4B Ortho Supply, and Grace Professional DME. The evidence showed that between January 2017 and April 2019, the Strouds and Griffin, through their companies, caused approximately $12.5 million to be billed in claims to Medicare for unnecessary braces based on brace orders received in exchange for illegal kickbacks. Medicare paid the defendants approximately $6.5 million for those claims. The defendants concealed the scheme by entering into numerous sham agreements with purported marketing companies that characterized the illegal payments for doctors’ orders as “marketing” expenses. The Strouds and Griffin were convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to offer and pay illegal healthcare kickbacks, and seven violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute. The defendants are all scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 7. Each defendant faces a total of up to 55 years in prison.
