Two South Florida men have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a nearly $35 million Medicare fraud scheme centered on orthotic braces. Kenneth Charles Kessler III of Miami and Michael Andrew Gomez of Miramar owned and operated multiple durable medical equipment companies. Through those companies they submitted millions of dollars in false claims for braces that patients neither requested nor needed. The pair also paid illegal kickbacks to obtain fraudulent doctors’ orders that supported the billing.

According to court documents, the men used their companies to ship braces across the country and then bill Medicare. They shifted claims between different businesses to avoid payment suspensions. Kessler personally profited more than $1.4 million while Gomez took in more than $2.3 million. Both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and received prison terms of 33 months and 24 months respectively. Federal prosecutors described the case as a clear example of billing for equipment that served no medical purpose.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz has repeatedly pointed to South Florida as a hotspot for this type of fraud. He has noted that the region has roughly twice as many durable medical equipment suppliers as McDonald’s restaurants, a disparity he attributes to widespread abuse. Oz has described schemes in which stolen Medicare beneficiary identification numbers are treated like credit-card data. Companies then bill for catheters, wheelchairs, braces and other items that are never actually shipped.

In public comments Oz has said the proceeds from such schemes are often moved quickly into offshore accounts, including locations such as the Cayman Islands. He has also raised concerns about possible external support for some of the networks, though investigators focus primarily on the domestic billing fraud and the theft of beneficiary data. The administrator has framed the crackdown as both a financial necessity and a protection for seniors whose personal information is exploited.

The case of Kessler and Gomez fits a larger pattern of durable medical equipment fraud that has drawn sustained attention from the Justice Department and HHS-OIG. South Florida has long ranked among the top regions for Medicare fraud prosecutions. Officials say the combination of high volumes of claims, telemedicine orders and multiple shell companies makes these schemes difficult to detect quickly. Recent enforcement actions aim to shut down the most aggressive operators and recover funds wherever possible.

As sentencing in this case concludes, federal authorities continue to pursue similar networks. The use of stolen beneficiary numbers and the rapid transfer of funds offshore remain key targets of ongoing investigations. For Medicare, every successful prosecution reduces losses that otherwise fall on taxpayers and the program’s long-term solvency. The convictions of the two South Florida men serve as a public reminder that these schemes, while sophisticated, are being tracked and punished.