Quality & complianceOfficial

Florida man pleads guilty to $42M Medicare fraud over braces and cancer genetic tests

🇺🇸 US Department of Justice · Fri 13 Nov 2026

Chad Monroe admitted conspiring to bill Medicare for unwanted braces and genetic tests, with kickbacks from laboratories and telemedicine firms, and to obtaining a PPP loan fraudulently.

Chad Monroe, 48, of Tarpon Springs, Florida, pleaded guilty on 13 November 2026 to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of wire fraud, the US Department of Justice announced. He also admitted fraudulently obtaining a Paycheck Protection Program loan. The department put the overall fraud on Medicare at $42 million.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Monroe and co-conspirators submitted claims for durable medical equipment, such as knee, wrist, ankle and back braces, and for cancer genetic testing that Medicare beneficiaries did not want or need. Three DME companies, Maksix Medical Products Inc., Orthotech Atlanta, LLC and 1st Choice Medical Supply LLC, were used to submit more than $26 million in false claims to Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans and TRICARE. Monroe told co-conspirators to lie on Medicare enrolment documents to conceal his ownership of, and role at, the companies.

To obtain the doctors' orders, Monroe paid purported telemedicine companies illegal kickbacks. Through Health and Life Networking LLC, he then sold the genetic-testing orders to co-conspirator laboratories, which paid him more than $15 million in kickbacks. He also directed a co-conspirator to submit a PPP loan application of over $30,000 that misstated, among other things, who owned 1st Choice Medical Supply LLC.

Prosecutors said Monroe spent the proceeds on a lavish lifestyle, including a 47-foot yacht valued at over $600,000, a Cadillac Escalade and other luxury vehicles. The government seized the yacht and more than $1 million. No sentencing date has been set. The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison for the health care fraud conspiracy and 30 years for wire fraud, with a federal district court judge to decide any sentence.

The case was investigated by HHS-OIG, the FBI, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and IRS Criminal Investigation, and is being prosecuted by the Health Care Fraud Section of the department's National Fraud Enforcement Division. The department says its Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program has charged more than 6,200 defendants since 2007, who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion.

What it means for your team

  • The case has no direct pharmacovigilance or product-safety implications; it is relevant to compliance and health care fraud enforcement.
  • Compliance teams at laboratories and testing providers should note that payments for referrals or orders obtained through telemedicine arrangements were central to the alleged kickback scheme.
  • Falsified ownership information on Medicare enrolment documents formed part of the conduct, underlining the scrutiny applied to supplier enrolment accuracy.
  • Claims spanned Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans and TRICARE, so exposure in such schemes extends beyond traditional Medicare.

Official source: US Department of Justice ↗

Article written by VigiEye from the official source (US Department of Justice). AI-assisted; check the source before acting.

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