Brookline Doctor Indicted In Health Care Fraud, Money Laundering Case

BROOKLINE, MA — A Brookline sleep doctor was due to face charges in federal court Tuesday following a grand jury indictment linked to a pair of health care fraud schemes, prosecutors announced.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts said Pankaj Merchia, 49, of Brookline and Boca Raton, Fla. made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars via fraud, which the Attorney’s Office said he used to buy financial securities and an expensive home in Brookline.

Prosecutors said Merchia billed former patients’ insurance companies for ongoing rentals of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) and Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure (BiPap) machines long after they stopped using the machines and/or returned the machines.

Prosecutors said Merchia separately sent a family member’s insurance company a more-than $400,000 bill for the rental of a CPAP machine even though he knew the company had policies in place saying it would not cover treatment by a family member.

Prosecutors said Merchia used proceeds from the first fraud to buy his Brookline home with a more than $2 million wire transfer.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said he then used the second fraud to back a $250,000 wire transfer and a $140,000 securities purchase.

A grand jury indicted Merchia on three counts of money laundering and one count of health care fraud related to the case, according to prosecutors

The charges against Merchia carry a possible sentence of up to 10-years in prison with three years of supervised release and fine of up to $250,000, prosecutors said.