A federal jury in the Middle District of Florida has convicted Sophie Dufort, 57, of Gainesville, Florida, in a Medicare fraud scheme that led to more than $8.6 million in fraudulent claims, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday. Dufort owned a durable medical equipment company and managed several others.
According to the department, the scheme took advantage of elderly and disabled people.
Court documents and trial evidence show that Dufort conspired with Paula Pirone, 70, of Ocala, Florida, and others to bill Medicare based on fake doctors’ prescriptions for orthotic braces, the Justice Department said. The release did not say whether Pirone has been charged.
The department said Dufort and her co-conspirators bought the prescriptions from marketing companies. Those companies used high-pressure telemarketing calls to get Medicare beneficiaries’ information, according to the department. It said the companies then paid medical practitioners to sign prescriptions without contacting or evaluating the patients, or stole doctors’ credentials to forge them.
The release said that when complaints arose that the voice on call recordings did not match the beneficiary’s voice, one co-conspirator explained that “some of the calls from overseas would be faked.” The department said braces were then shipped to beneficiaries who did not want or need them, and Medicare was billed for millions of dollars.
A medical expert testified that using these combinations of braces could be “very dangerous” for the elderly Medicare population, according to the release. The department said that when people complained and wanted to return the braces, they were told to get rid of them or pass them down, so the conspirators would not have to repay Medicare.
The jury convicted Dufort of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, two counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to offer and pay illegal kickbacks, and one count of offering and paying illegal kickbacks.
Dufort faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud. Each health care fraud count and the kickback count carries a maximum of 10 years. The count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to offer and pay illegal kickbacks carries a maximum of five years.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 2027. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other legal factors, the department said.
Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division and U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe of the Middle District of Florida made the announcement. The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case.