The owner of a Florida business that sells medical equipment has been indicted in Vermont on federal charges alleging that his company submitted false claims to Medicare for reimbursement.
A federal grand jury in Burlington indicted Donald Jani on Thursday on charges of attempted health care fraud and committing health care fraud.
Jani was the co-owner of CSS Pain Relief Inc,, a company based in Fort Pierce, Florida, and an enrolled Medicare provider, according to the indictment. Medicare is a federally funded health care program providing medical services to elderly and disabled people across the country.
Jani and other unnamed co-conspirators between August 2020 and April of this year took part in a scheme to defraud Medicare by submitting fraudulent claims for medical equipment, such as back braces and glucose monitors, for his company’s customers, the indictment stated.
The claims, the charging document stated, were for customers from several parts of the country, including Medicare beneficiaries in Vermont.
In total, according to the indictment, Jani’s company submitted 2,252 claims for Medicare reimbursement for medical equipment that was “purportedly provided to 894” people throughout the United States.
The Florida company submitted $1.9 million in Medicare claims and received $790,000 in reimbursements, the filing stated.
The indictment does not provide a breakdown of how many of the alleged false claims involved Vermonters.
Medicare reimbursements are paid out if a claim has been determined to be medically necessary by a prescribing provider, according to the indictment. The claims submitted by Jani’s company, the filing added, allegedly contained “false representations,” including in cases where medical equipment was never provided to a customer.
Jani, the indictment stated, has had several roles with the Florida-based company, from president to CEO to owner. Contact information for Jani could not be found Friday. His last known address, according to the charging document, was in India.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont, which is prosecuting the case, did not return messages Friday seeking comment.
