DOJ: Man Convicted in $1 Billion Medicare Fraud Scheme Targeting ‘Sick and Elderly’

A man from Johnson County, Kansas, who owned a healthcare software company has been convicted in a $1 billion Medicare fraud case.

HealthSplash owner Brett Blackman was convicted by a federal jury in the Southern District of Florida for his part in the scheme that officials said generated fake doctors’ orders and prescriptions to defraud Medicare and other benefit programs, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday.

He was convicted of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare kickbacks, and conspiracy to defraud the United States and to make false statements linked to healthcare issues, the agency said.

The announcement continued:

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Brett Blackman, 42, of Johnson County, Kansas, and his co-conspirators aggressively targeted hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries to get them to accept medically unnecessary orthotic braces and other items. They then arranged for purported telemedicine doctors to sign bogus prescription orders for these items, so that their co-conspirators could bill Medicare for them. All told, Blackman and his co-conspirators billed Medicare and other federal health care benefit programs over $1 billion for this unnecessary equipment.

In a social media post on Thursday, the DOJ shared an image of Blackman wearing a gold fedora, gold glasses, and a necklace with a money sign dangling from it.

The agency’s post also included an aerial photo of a mansion that officials said was “used in defendant’s music video”:

The news comes as the Vice President JD Vance-led Task Force to Eliminate Fraud has been working to uncover similar schemes across America, Breitbart News reported April 3.

A Vance spokesperson recently told the outlet, “The Vice President has brought the entire Trump administration together to root out fraud and return hard-earned tax dollars to the American people — where it belongs. The task force continues to gain momentum every single day, and it’s working tirelessly to deliver results on the President’s War on Fraud.”

President Donald Trump announced the “War on Fraud” during his State of the Union address in February, naming Vance the head of the task force.

In regard to Blackman’s case, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said, “The Department of Justice crushed one of the most egregious fraud schemes in Florida history. This illegitimate operation stole more than $1 billion from American taxpayers — including hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries. This was cold, calculated, industrial-scale theft targeting the sick and elderly, coercing vulnerable people into buying unnecessary medical equipment. We will not rest until every fraudster ripping off the American people is held accountable.”