A Clarence Center man, Jeffrey Brooks, has been sentenced to 7½ years in federal prison for his role in a large-scale scheme that resulted in Medicare being billed for $29 million in false and fraudulent claims. Brooks, who owned and operated at least eight durable medical equipment companies in Florida, disguised his ownership of these companies from Medicare and engaged in a variety of fraudulent activities to generate false claims. These activities included purchasing Medicare beneficiaries’ personal information, obtaining doctors’ orders for unnecessary medical braces, and paying illegal kickbacks and bribes to get these orders signed.
In addition, Brooks was also the operator and owner of Remote Solutions, a call center based in South Carolina. From this company, Brooks and his co-conspirators induced Medicare beneficiaries to provide their personal information and agree to accept braces, even if they were not medically necessary. The fraudulent claims totaled $29.6 million, of which Medicare paid about $15.2 million. Furthermore, the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs paid $22,795 on these false and fraudulent claims, and the money was then transferred to Brooks through bank accounts in the Remote Solutions name or another entity controlled by him.
As part of his sentencing, Brooks was ordered to pay over $15.2 million in restitution to Medicare and the VA health program. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General emphasized that by enabling kickbacks, Brooks knowingly allowed theft from Medicare, costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Additionally, Brooks paid $850,000 in a civil settlement to resolve allegations that he provided kickbacks and caused false claims to be submitted, violating the federal False Claims Act.