Damian Williams, the United States Lawyer for the Southern District of New York, and Scott J. Lampert, Exclusive Agent in Charge of the U.S. Office of Wellbeing and Human Companies Office of Inspector Standard (“HHS-OIG”) New York Regional Workplace announced now the arrest of ZACHARY S. SEID and ANTHONY CRACCHIOLO on prices of conspiracy, health care fraud, wire fraud, and unlawfully acquiring kickbacks in connection with Medicare. As alleged in an Indictment unsealed today in Manhattan federal court docket, SEID and CRACCHIOLO, ran providers committed to illegally shopping for and promoting prescriptions for durable professional medical gear (“DME”) such as leg, arm, and back again braces, and then applying these prescriptions to file fraudulent Medicare promises for additional than $11 million, as very well as promoting these types of prescriptions to other DME supply businesses, so that those businesses in flip could also file fraudulent Medicare statements. The scenario has been assigned to U.S. District Choose John P. Cronan. SEID and CRACCHIOLO, who were being arrested this morning in Florida, will be introduced tomorrow right before magistrate judges in the Southern District of Florida.
U.S. Lawyer Damian Williams said: “Medicare is an priceless taxpayer-funded plan devoted to delivering cost-effective well being treatment to beneficiaries about 65 or with disabilities, not to enriching those people who would defraud the plan by purchasing and marketing untrue prescriptions.”
HHS-OIG Specific Agent in Demand Scott J. Lampert reported: “These allegations explain a greed-fueled scheme that undermined our overall health care method and the people today it serves. These types of scams threaten individual wellbeing, waste taxpayer cash, and drive up healthcare expenditures for all of us. Functioning closely with our regulation enforcement partners, we will carry on to aggressively root out overall health care fraud and convey criminals to justice.”
As alleged in the Indictment:[1]
From at least July 2019 as a result of at least Oct 2020, SEID and CRACCHIOLO engaged in a plan to defraud Medicare in at least 3 approaches. To start with, SEID and CRACCHIOLO illegally paid kickbacks of additional than $565,000 to buy fraudulent DME prescriptions, which include prescriptions “signed” by doctors who by no means in reality signed or authorized all those prescriptions and ended up unaware that their names and identities had been remaining so applied. These DME prescriptions ended up for these kinds of devices as braces for ankles, knees, elbows, wrists, and backs. 2nd, SEID and CRACCHIOLO unlawfully been given a lot more than $425,000 in kickbacks, reselling some of these prescriptions to DME suppliers, so that those people suppliers in turn could fraudulently bill Medicare for the DME. Eventually, in about May possibly and June 2020, SEID and CRACCHIOLO acquired 5 of their own fraudulent DME supply providers, and used the bogus prescriptions to file more than $11 million in fraudulent Medicare statements, in search of payment to the DME suppliers that SEID and CRACCHIOLO managed.
Jointly, SEID and CRACCHIOLO bought to a number of DME supply firms, and proven management in excess of at least 5 DME provide providers of their individual, which they employed to submit their fraudulent Medicare statements. People firms have been: 1 Clinical Supplies Corp., Ameri Med Materials Corp., Just one Health-related Wellness Provides Corp., Sunshine Med Equip Corp., and Sunrise Med Assistance Group Corp. In addition, Seid owned a enterprise named Seid Products and services, Inc., while Cracchiolo owned a organization referred to as Dataco.
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SEID, 35, of Boynton Beach front, Florida, and CRACCHIOLO, 42, of Parkland, Florida, are each and every charged in four counts with conspiracy to dedicate wellness treatment fraud and wire fraud, overall health treatment fraud, wire fraud, and receiving kickbacks in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute. The conspiracy and wire fraud counts every single carry a greatest probable jail sentence of 20 yrs the wellbeing care fraud depend carries a optimum possible prison sentence of 10 many years and the depend charging violation of the Anti-Kickback statute carries a utmost potential prison sentence of 5 many years. The utmost prospective penalties are recommended by Congress and are delivered in this article for informational needs only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be identified by the judge.
Mr. Williams praised the investigative work of HHS-OIG.
This circumstance is currently being managed by the Office’s Sophisticated Frauds and Cybercrime Device. Assistant United States Lawyer David Raymond Lewis is in charge of the prosecution.
The allegations contained in the Indictment are just accusations, and the defendants are presumed harmless except if and till verified responsible.
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the textual content of the Indictment and the description of the Indictment set forth below constitute only allegations, and just about every actuality explained should be taken care of as an allegation.