Some people are never too old to commit fraud. Just ask 85 year old Jacobo Melcer, a Bonita, FL resident and business owner, who on July 2, 2025, pleaded guilty in federal court to a Medicare fraud scheme that stole millions of dollars from the U.S. taxpayer and is now looking at up to five years in federal prison. Not exactly how most people plan out their retirement, but fraudsters aren’t known for long term planning.
Melcer owned and operated two durable medical equipment companies (DME) companies, which sold orthotics, including back, wrist, and knee braces to Medicare beneficiaries. He paid unlawful kickback payments to multiple companies for the referral of Medicare beneficiaries, that included prescriptions for DME. Despite knowing that the prescriptions were signed by physicians who had no legitimate doctor-patient relationship with the beneficiaries and had not conducted a legitimate medical evaluation of those beneficiaries either. At 85, one would think he had a list of friends on Medicare to use in the scheme!
Melcer also created and sold two other DME companies to a co-conspirator for the sole purpose of putting the ownership under someone else’s name except his own. Turns out Medicare had suspended Melcer as a Medicare provider due to a prior scheme. It didn’t stop Melcer.
In total, Melcer paid more than $227,000 in kickbacks, and fraudulently billed Medicare $5,885,382. Medicare paid $3,479,303 in fraudulent claims. As part of his guilty plea, Melcer agreed to forfeit and pay restitution in the amount of $3,479,303.
Excellent job by the Department of Health and Human Services in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Never Too Old South Bay man, 85, pleads guilty in Medicare fraud scheme” published by Fox News on July 2, 2025.
A man living in the South Bay pleaded guilty in federal court on Wednesday to his role in a multi-million dollar Medicare fraud scheme. Jacobo Melcer, an 85-year-old Bonita resident, admitted to submitting more than $5.8 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare through his ownership of two companies that sold durable medical equipment (DME). The companies sold orthotics such as back, wrist and knee braces to people enrolled in Medicare.
Melcer admitted that he paid unlawful kickback payments to different companies for the referrals and prescriptions for DME. In total, he admitted to paying more than $277,000 in kickbacks and fraudulently billing Medicare for $5.8 million.
