Two Florida men were sentenced on September 4, 2026, for running a $34.8 million Medicare fraud scheme that shipped orthotic braces to beneficiaries across the country who had not asked for them, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Michael Andrew Gomez, 43, of Miramar, personally profited more than $2.3 million from the scheme, while his co-defendant, Kenneth Charles Kessler III, 43, of Miami, took more than $1.4 million, prosecutors said. Both men pleaded guilty in May 2026 to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud before their sentencing this month. For an older reader enrolled in Medicare, the case is a reminder that a brace nobody in the household ordered can still generate a real claim against that person’s Medicare number, one that can limit what the program will pay toward a brace actually needed later.
Seven DME Companies Funneled a $34.8 Million Brace Operation
According to prosecutors, Gomez and Kessler owned and operated seven durable medical equipment supply companies based in Florida, all used to submit millions of dollars in false claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary orthotic braces. The two men paid illegal kickbacks and bribes to obtain fraudulently signed doctors’ orders, then used those orders to ship braces to Medicare beneficiaries nationwide, including many who never requested the equipment and did not need it. Once a signed order existed, however it was obtained, Medicare paid the claim filed under that beneficiary’s own number.
When one of the seven companies drew a Medicare payment suspension, according to the Justice Department’s account, Gomez and Kessler shifted their fraudulent billing to a different company inside the same network rather than stopping. That rotation let the pair keep collecting Medicare payments even as investigators moved to cut off individual entities, and it is part of why the false billing reached $34.8 million before it was stopped. The FBI’s Miami Field Office and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General investigated the case together, a pairing typical of Medicare fraud cases because HHS-OIG holds the claims and provider data while the FBI handles the criminal side of the kickback network.
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Guilty Pleas in May, Sentences of 24 and 33 Months
Gomez and Kessler each pleaded guilty in May 2026 to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and a federal court in the Southern District of Florida sentenced them on September 4, 2026. Kessler received 33 months in prison and Gomez received 24 months. Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald, who leads the department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, said the pair “paid kickbacks for fake doctors’ orders, shuffled billing among several companies to dodge payment suspensions, and pocketed millions that belonged to American taxpayers.” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida added that the defendants “built a $34.8 million scheme around medically unnecessary braces, fraudulent doctors’ orders, and illegal kickbacks, all to enrich themselves at the expense of American taxpayers.” The case ran through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, a Justice Department initiative that has charged more than 6,200 defendants nationwide for billing federal health programs and private insurers more than $45 billion combined since 2007, placing this $34.8 million case inside a far larger, ongoing enforcement push aimed at Medicare’s durable medical equipment benefit.
Why a Brace Nobody Ordered Can Still Cost a Beneficiary Later
The scheme fits a pattern the HHS Office of Inspector General has warned about for years in its Nationwide Brace Scam alert: fraudsters call beneficiaries directly or run television and radio ads offering a “free” orthotic brace, then use whatever Medicare information the beneficiary provides, or a forged doctor’s order, to ship equipment and bill Medicare for it. The braces often arrive unrequested, sometimes more than one to the same address.
The financial risk does not stop at the taxpayer-funded claim itself. HHS-OIG’s alert states that if a beneficiary has received unwanted or unneeded braces that were billed to Medicare, Medicare may deny a brace the beneficiary actually needs later, because its records already show one was provided. That is why the agency tells beneficiaries to refuse any equipment delivery a physician did not order, keep a record of the sender’s name and the date it was returned, and never hand over a Medicare number to anyone offering free equipment by phone or advertisement. The alert adds a narrower rule that is easy to apply in the moment: if anyone other than a beneficiary’s own physician’s office asks for a Medicare number, the answer should be no, regardless of what is being offered in exchange.
Checking a Medicare Statement for a Brace That Never Arrived
Medicare’s own guidance tells beneficiaries to compare the dates and services on a personal calendar against the statements Medicare sends for each claim, and to set up a secure Medicare.gov account so claims can be reviewed as soon as they are processed rather than waiting for a mailed notice. A charge for a brace, wheelchair, or other equipment that a beneficiary never received should be treated as an error worth calling about, not something to overlook because the beneficiary did not pay for it out of pocket. Medicare’s guidance also notes that the program itself will never call a beneficiary to sell something or show up at a home uninvited, so an unexpected call offering equipment, however official it sounds, is itself a signal worth treating with suspicion.
Medicare’s fraud-reporting page directs anyone who spots a suspect charge to call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) or file a report through the HHS Office of Inspector General’s online form, and the OIG’s brace-scam alert lists its own hotline, 1-800-447-8477, as a direct line for reporting durable-medical-equipment fraud specifically. Reporting a charge does not require proof of who committed the fraud, only a beneficiary’s own knowledge that a listed brace or piece of equipment never showed up at the door.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by The Financial Wire editorial team.
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Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
