The owner of Pharmagears, LLC and RR Medco, LLC has been charged in connection with a nearly $30 million fraud scheme involving medically unnecessary durable medical equipment (DME), including orthotics such as back and knee braces. Raju Sharma, 61, of Sharon, was charged by criminal complaint with one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. Sharma was arrested on February 20, 2025, and later released on conditions following an initial appearance in federal court in Boston. According to the charging documents, between February 2021 and February 2025, Sharma, on behalf of Pharmagears and RR Medco, entered into contracts with telemarketing companies that generated DME orders by targeting Medicare beneficiaries. Sharma then allegedly billed Medicare for this medically unnecessary DME, which Medicare beneficiaries often did not want or could not use and/or a medical practitioner ordered without having met or examined the beneficiary or were ordered by the fraudulent use of practitioners’ national provider identifiers without their knowledge or assent.
It is alleged that these DME orders were also obtained in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute, because although Sharma agreed in the contracts to pay the marketing companies a flat fee for their services, Sharma in fact paid the marketing companies on a per-lead, or per-order, basis. It is further alleged that Sharma worked with multiple other co-conspirators, including family and acquaintances, to open and operate additional DME companies in the same fraudulent manner. In total, the companies owned, operated, or connected with Sharma allegedly billed Medicare approximately $29.6 million for these fraudulent DME orders and were paid approximately $15.8 million. According to the charging documents, Sharma made substantial profits from this alleged fraud, which he used to purchase luxury goods, including two Ferraris, a Mercedes-Benz Model S and at least three Rolex watches. The Court issued seizure warrants for these luxury goods in connection with the charges.
