Fairfield Man Sentenced In $7.8 Million Health Care Fraud And Kickback Scheme: Feds

FAIRFIELD, CT — A 60-year-old Fairfield man was sentenced to 30 months in prison for his role in a multimillion-dollar health care fraud and kickback scheme involving durable medical equipment, federal prosecutors said.

Jesse Foote was sentenced in federal court in Newark Wednesday after pleading guilty in August 2024 to conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and conspiracy to commit health care fraud. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Esther Salas.

Foote's sentencing was postponed multiple times over the past year for undisclosed reasons.

Court filings and statements made during proceedings showed that from December 2017 through March 2021, Foote participated in a scheme that involved overseas telemarketing call centers, telemedicine companies, doctors and medical equipment suppliers. The operation generated fraudulent claims submitted to Medicare, TRICARE and private insurers.

Prosecutors said Foote controlled a marketing company that purchased patient leads from overseas telemarketers. Those leads included beneficiary information and prewritten doctors’ orders for medical equipment such as orthotic braces. The telemarketers contacted Medicare beneficiaries and others with health insurance to persuade them to accept equipment, often without regard to medical necessity.

Foote paid kickbacks to telemedicine companies, which in turn paid doctors to approve the equipment orders, prosecutors said. In many cases, the doctors approved the orders without examining or speaking with the patients or determining whether the equipment was medically necessary. Foote then sold the signed orders to suppliers, including companies he controlled, which submitted reimbursement claims to insurers.

Authorities said the scheme resulted in more than $7.8 million in false or fraudulent claims to health care benefit programs.

In addition to the prison term, Foote was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $7,878,991.56 in restitution.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine M. Romano of the U.S. attorney’s office in Newark.