Jessica Jones, 30, of Colorado and Elizabeth Putulin, 30, of Florida have agreed to plead guilty in connection with a multi-million dollar Medicare fraud scheme using shell companies in Massachusetts and several other states, according to U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling’s office
Jones and Putulin allegedly conspired with Juan Camilo Perez Buitrag to submit more than $109 million in false and fraudulent claims for durable medical equipment [DME] such as arm, back, knee and shoulder braces.
Perez has previously agreed to plead guilty after being charged in July 2020. He is due in court on October 5.
The allegations against Jones and Putulin include that they helped Perez manufacture and submit false and fraudulent Medicare claims by establishing shell companies in more than a dozen different states.
Perez directed employees, including Jones and Putulin, to list his mother, wife and yacht captain as corporate directors and to use fictitious names when registering the shell companies as DME providers.
At Perez’s request, Jones and Putulin allegedly purchased Medicare patient data from foreign and domestic call centers that targeted elderly patients, and instructed call centers to contact the Medicare beneficiaries with an offer of ankle, arm, back, knee and/or shoulder braces “at little to no cost.”
Perez then submitted Medicare claims for those patients without obtaining a prescriber’s order.
The allegations also detail that Perez submitted blatantly fraudulent claims, including claims for deceased patients and repeat claims for the same patient and the same DME.
Perez failed to provide any DME for more than $7.5 million in claims. When Perez did provide DME to patients, he typically billed insurance policies more than 12 times the average price of the DME that he provided to the patient.
Jones and Putulin answered phone calls from Medicare patients who received DME they did not need and responded to insurance company requests for prescriber and patient documentation.
Jones and Putulin each face up to 10 years in prison.
