Damian Williams, the USA Legal professional for the Southern District of New York, introduced that CHRISTOPHER MARGAIT was sentenced at this time to 65 months in jail for conspiracy to commit well being care fraud by fraudulently trafficking in orders for sturdy medical tools resembling again, knee, and wrist braces.  MARGAIT beforehand pled responsible to the cost and was sentenced at this time earlier than United States District Choose Denise Cote.

U.S. Legal professional Damian Williams stated: “Christopher Margait confronted justice at this time for illegally promoting orders for sturdy medical tools and thus defrauding Medicare of at the least $7 million.  Such fraud schemes do actual hurt to Medicare—a significant, taxpayer-funded program that gives inexpensive well being care to individuals over 65 or with disabilities.”

In response to statements made in courtroom and publicly filed paperwork on this case:

From at the least August 2019 by way of Could 2021, MARGAIT and his co-defendant, Matthew Taylor Witkowski, engaged in a scheme to defraud Medicare by illegally acquiring and promoting fraudulent orders for sturdy medical tools (“DME”) paid for by Medicare.  Utilizing a enterprise that he collectively owned and operated with Witkowski, and a name heart that Witkowski operated within the Dominican Republic, MARGAIT illegally generated and bought fraudulent orders for DME after which bought these fraudulent orders to pharmacies and DME suppliers, together with suppliers in New York Metropolis.  These pharmacies and DME suppliers then used these fraudulent orders as the idea for at the least $7 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare.  Many of those fraudulent orders used names and private well being info of precise Medicare beneficiaries, with out the beneficiaries’ authorization or prior information.  Many of those fraudulent orders additionally contained skilled info of docs and different health-care suppliers enrolled within the Medicare program, in addition to the purported digital signatures of those suppliers, which had been falsified and created with out the authorization or information of those suppliers.

In the course of the course of the scheme, MARGAIT and Witkowski obtained greater than $3.8 million in unlawful kickbacks from DME suppliers, who made these funds to True Prospects Advertising, Inc., an organization managed by MARGAIT and Witkowski.

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MARGAIT, 45, of West Palm Seaside, Florida, pled responsible on June 2, 2022, to a single rely of conspiracy to commit well being care fraud.  As well as, MARGAIT was sentenced to a few years of supervised launch and ordered to pay forfeiture of $3,853,442 and restitution of $7,000,000 to the Medicare program.

Witkowski, 38, a U.S. citizen who resided within the Dominican Republic since he was in faculty, was sentenced on April 20, 2023 to 60 months in jail and three years of supervised launch.  He was additionally ordered to pay forfeiture of $4,065,995 and restitution of $8,131,990 to the Medicare program.

Mr. Williams praised the excellent investigative work of the Workplace of the Inspector Common of the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers.

This case is being dealt with by the Workplace’s Complicated Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Legal professional David Raymond Lewis is accountable for the prosecution.