WEST PALM BEACH — A Delray Beach man who said he was “duped” into helping his business partners defraud Medicare will spend a year in federal prison for the crime.
Jamie Michael Larkin, 37, pleaded guilty in February to conspiring to commit health care fraud, a felony for which he faced up to 10 years in prison. Federal prosecutors recommended a lighter sentence during a recent hearing in West Palm Beach, pointing to the assistance they said Larkin provided investigators.
Larkin said Patrick O’Brien and Omar Solari — two men who had burned their relationships with insurance companies in previous audits — approached him in 2021 with an intriguing business opportunity: Invest $115,000 in a Georgia pharmacy called Rite Care and become its owner, splitting the profits equally among the three men.
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The pair promised to manage all facets of the operation while upholding Larkin as its sole owner to keep their interests in the pharmacy hidden, lest they be audited again. They also promised Larkin that he could one day sell the pharmacy and keep the proceeds for himself.