Three charged in multimillion dollar fraud scheme

Three people were charged in federal court in Boston on Friday in connection with a multimillion dollar Medicare fraud scheme, U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling said.

Nathan LaParl, 34, of Boca Raton, Fla.; and Talia Alexandre, 30, of Palm Springs, Fla.; each were charged with one count of receiving kickbacks in connection with a federal health care program. LaParl and Stefanie Hirsch, 51, of Los Angeles, Calif., were also charged with violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

LaParl and Alexandre are accused of selling Medicare patients’ personal and medical data to Juan Camilo Perez Buitrago.

LaParl and Alexandre worked with foreign call centers to contact Medicare patients to ask if they were interested in durable medical equipment (DME) such as arm, back, knee and shoulder braces “at little to no cost,” according to court records.

The call centers collected from Medicare patients demographic and insurance information, which LaParl and Alexandre sold to Perez, Lelling said.

Together, LaParl and Alexandre received more than $1.6 million from Perez Buitrago for the patient data, he said.

Perez Buitrago used that patient data to submit more than $109 million in false and fraudulent claims, submitting claims for DME that was not prescribed, not necessary and, in many instances, never requested or received, Lelling said.

To perpetuate the scheme, he said, LaParl checked Medicare patients’ insurance eligibility by improperly accessing a patient eligibility tool provided by Hirsch. Hirsch owned EI Medical Inc., a Medicare-enrolled wheelchair and scooter repair company.