The owner of Expansion Media and Hybrid Management Group pleaded guilty in connection with a $110 million telemedicine fraud scheme involving medically unnecessary durable medical equipment (DME), including orthotics such as back and knee braces. Steven Richardson, 40, of Parkland, Fla., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. Between March 2016 and January 2023, Richardson, through his companies Expansion and Hybrid, entered into business relationships with telemarketing companies that generated leads by targeting Medicare beneficiaries. The telemarketers then paid Expansion and Hybrid on a per-order basis to generate orders for DME for these beneficiaries. To arrange for these orders to be signed, Richardson worked with medical staffing companies—including one in Massachusetts—to find doctors and nurses who were willing to review and sign prepopulated orders, typically without any contact with the beneficiaries. The records falsely portrayed the medical providers as having performed a legitimate examination of the beneficiary. Richardson then provided the signed orders to the telemarketing companies, which sold the orders to DME suppliers. Richardson knew that these DME suppliers would use the signed orders to submit claims to Medicare for DME that was medically unnecessary, based on false documentation and tainted by kickbacks.
