Durable Medical Equipment Owner Sentenced in $61M Medicare Fraud Scheme

PORT SAINT LUCIE, Florida—A Florida man was sentenced to 12 years in prison and three years of supervised release for conspiring to defraud Medicare with false reimbursement claims for durable medical equipment (DME). He was also ordered to pay $21,195,540.18 in restitution and forfeiture in the amount of $2,514,040.

According to court documents, Peter Roussonicolos, 64, of Port Saint Lucie, Florida, owned and operated five DME suppliers as a silent partner. Roussonicolos allegedly hid his involvement in the companies from Medicare because he had one or more felony convictions, making him ineligible to enroll with the government program. To further conceal his involvement, he allegedly recruited and paid co-conspirators to serve as nominee owners of the DME suppliers and caused others to falsify Medicare enrollment forms, bank records and other documents to conceal the true ownership and control of the DME suppliers. The documents said that Roussonicolos also knew that a co-conspirator paid kickbacks and bribes to patient recruiters in exchange for beneficiary referrals. As part of the scheme, the DME companies submitted approximately $61.5 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary DME that was ineligible for reimbursement and were paid approximately $26.7 million of these claims.

In November 2024, Roussonicolos pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud.

“Through lies and deceit, the defendant and his co-conspirators orchestrated a $61 million fraud on Medicare,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s criminal division. “The defendant’s fraud drained critical government resources that could have been used to help vulnerable Americans. Today’s sentencing demonstrates the department’s steadfast commitment to protecting taxpayer dollars and ensuring accountability for those who seek to defraud our health care programs.”

“Today’s sentence underscores (our) firm commitment to thoroughly investigating individuals who engage in illegal kickback schemes to prescribe medically unnecessary durable medical equipment for their own personal financial gain,” said Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “We remain steadfast in our mission to protect the integrity of Medicare and other federal health care programs as well as the people served by those programs.”

“This defendant and his co-conspirators orchestrated an elaborate scheme to steal millions from Medicare through kickbacks and sham billing,” said Assistant Director Jose A. Perez of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division. “Today’s sentencing demonstrates that those who exploit our health care system for personal gain will be held accountable. The FBI is committed to working with our partners to protect taxpayer dollars and ensure the integrity of health care programs.”