MIAMI, Florida — Three Florida men have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a scheme to defraud Medicare and launder over $2.2 million in illicit proceeds.
Marco Scamarone, 34, of Tamarac, Florida, received a 70-month prison sentence; Jose Mendez, 34, of Coral Springs, Florida, was sentenced to 78 months; and Renee Vazquez, 33, of Tamarac, Florida, was sentenced to 60 months, according to a press release from the Department of Justice. The men operated two fraudulent durable medical equipment companies, Braces and Orthotics LLC in Virginia and Stone Oak Durable Medical Equipment LLC in Florida, which submitted approximately $6.9 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for unnecessary orthotic braces.
The scheme involved illegal kickbacks and bribes to an offshore marketing company in exchange for beneficiary referrals and fraudulent doctors’ orders. The defendants laundered the fraud proceeds through shell companies, ultimately laundering more than $2.2 million for their benefit and that of their co-conspirators…