Raju Sharma was the guy that brought different business parties together. To band together people who have the same focus. And in this case, was the middleman who created contracts between durable equipment (DME) companies and telemarketing companies in a strategic alliance with the goal to steal almost $30 million from the U.S. taxpayers in a Medicare scheme. Who says strategic alliances fail to achieve their objectives?
On behalf of several independent DME companies, Sharma, between February 2021 and February 2025, entered into contracts with telemarketing companies that generated fraudulent DME orders, strictly with the intent to target Medicare beneficiaries. Using those orders, Sharma then billed Medicare for medically unnecessary DMEs. The Medicare beneficiaries often did not want or could not use these DMEs! A hired medical practitioner and a partner in the strategic alliance wrote the orders without having met or examined the beneficiaries and often used other practitioners’ national provider identifiers without their knowledge or consent. Sharma also extended his schemes to include family and acquaintances who opened and operated additional DME companies in the same fraudulent manner.
These DME orders were obtained in violation of the anti-kickback statute, because although Sharma agreed in the contracts to pay the marketing companies a flat fee for their services, Sharma in fact paid the marketing companies on a per-lead, or per-order, basis. In total, the companies owned, operated, or connected with Sharma billed Medicare for approximately $29.6 million for these fraudulent DME orders.
Sharma fraudulently made almost $15 million in the Medicare scheme. He used his fraudulently gained proceeds to purchase luxury goods, including two Ferraris, a Mercedes-Benz Model S and at least three Rolex watches.
On May 25, 2025, Sharma pled guilty to Medicare fraud.
Excellent job by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Man facing massive restitution payment for $30M scheme targeting Medicare patients” published by Mass Live on May 25, 2025.
A businessman who perpetrated a nearly $30 million health care fraud could be forced to pay back more than $15 million in restitution after agreeing to plead guilty to federal charges this week. Raju Sharma, 61, of Sharon, owned a medical device company that targeted Medicare beneficiaries by billing the federal health care program for devices the patients often did not need, according to federal prosecutors.
The company billed Medicare more than $29 million for fraudulent medical device orders between 2021 and 2025, roughly $15.8 million of which was paid out. With the “substantial p whrofits” he earned from the scheme, Sharma purchased two Ferraris, a Mercedes-Benz, at least three Rolex watches and other high-end goods, prosecutors said.
