A federal grand jury in Newark, New Jersey, returned a superseding indictment charging a Florida owner of multiple telemedicine companies with orchestrating a healthcare fraud and illegal kickback scheme that involved the submission of over $784 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare. This is one of the largest Medicare fraud schemes ever charged by the Justice Department. Creaghan Harry, 53, of Highland Beach, Florida, is charged in the superseding indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud, and four counts of income tax evasion. Harry previously was charged in an indictment along with co-conspirators Lester Stockett and Elliot Loewenstern with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive kickbacks, four counts of receipt of kickbacks, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Stockett and Loewenstern previously pleaded guilty.
According to allegations in the superseding indictment, Harry and his co-conspirators solicited illegal kickbacks and bribes from durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers and marketers in exchange for orders for DME braces and medications. Harry’s telemedicine companies then allegedly paid physicians to write medically unnecessary orders for these braces and medications. Harry’s telemedicine companies provided orders to DME suppliers that fraudulently billed Medicare over $784 million. Medicare ended up paying over $247 million.
