Medicare scam may cost Jacksonville businessman prison time plus $30M

Madhukar Sharma, a 51-year-old medical business owner from Jacksonville, Florida, has pleaded guilty to charges of Medicare fraud after submitting approximately 340,000 fraudulent claims in a six-month period. The scam resulted in $30 million in illegal reimbursements, which Sharma obtained by paying kickbacks to obtain patient data. Sharma now faces up to five years in federal prison, $30 million in restitution, and the risk of deportation to India.