Man Pleads Guilty to Multi-Million-Dollar DME Fraud

NEW YORK—A man has pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in connection with a Medicare durable medical equipment (DME) fraud scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Matthew Taylor Witkowski is scheduled to be sentenced on April 20, 2023 and could serve up to 10 years. 

According to a news release from the prosecutor’s office. Witkowski and an unnamed co-conspirator engaged in a scheme to defraud Medicare by using a call center he ran in the Dominican Republic to obtain and create fraudulent written orders for goods and services, including DME. They then sold these orders to DME suppliers and pharmacies in New York City and elsewhere.

The scam allegedly ran from August 2019-July 2022 and formed the basis of more than $8 million in fraudulent Medicare claims. Many of the claims reportedly used the names and personal health information of Medicare beneficiaries without their knowledge and of doctors and other Medicare-enrolled providers, including falsified electronic signatures. 

During the course of the scheme, the prosecutor’s office said, Witkowski took more than $4 million in illegal kickbacks from DME suppliers, who made these payments to two companies he owned: True Prospects Marketing, Inc. and Sales Drive Marketing LLC. Witkowski, 37, is an American citizen who had been living in the Dominican Republic but is currently on bail in Florida, the release said.