Long Island Man Charged In Kickback Scheme In Boston: Feds

BOSTON, MA — A national sales director from Long Island was recently charged in a Boston federal court with conspiracy in connection with offering and paying out kickbacks to doctors in exchange for ordering medically unnecessary brain scans, resulting in around $70.6 million in fraudulent Medicare bills, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

David Fuhrmann, 59, of Port Jefferson, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute, however, a plea hearing has not yet been scheduled by the court, according to the office. The charge of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute provides a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000, prosecutors said.

His attorney, Robert Sheketoff of Boston, MA, was not immediately available for comment.

Prosecutors allege that from at least June 2013 through at least September 2020, Fuhrmann conspired with others, including two managers for a mobile medical diagnostics company that performed Transcranial Doppler scans, entering into kickback agreements with various doctors.

The agreements were shams that hid the true nature of the arrangement of paying per test, resulting in fraudulent bills of around $70.6 million to Medicare, according to prosecutors.

Fuhrmann and his co-conspirators offered and paid doctors kickbacks based on the number of ultrasounds the doctors ordered, with some doctors being paid in cash and others by check, prosecutors said, adding that they also created rental and administrative service agreements.

On paper, the agreements made it appear as if doctors were compensated for the ultrasound company’s use of space and administrative resources based on fair market value and not based on the volume or value of referrals, prosecutors said.