The man convicted of participating in a commercial bribery conspiracy while operating a durable medical equipment company has been sentenced to federal prison and will pay a sizable amount of restitution.
48-year-old Patrick Wolfe was operating Wilmington Island Medical Inc., which did business as WI Medical Inc.
He pleaded guilty to one county of Conspiracy in late 2020 and he is the 31st individual and/or company in the Southern District of Georgia’s crackdown on fraudulent genetic testing, and prescribing of orthotic braces and pain creams. It is believed that there has been more than $1.5 billion in losses to Medicare and Medicaid for defendants charged in the Southern District alone.
Judge William Moore Jr. sentenced Wolfe to 24 months in prison and he will then be responsible for $549,476.17 in restitution. After his time behind bars, Wolfe will serve three years of supervised release and there is no parole in the federal system.
“After ripping off taxpayer-provided health care benefits to fuel his own greed, Patrick Wolfe had the audacity to flaunt his ill-gotten gains by fueling up and driving around in a Maserati,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Estes. “A stint behind bars will put the brakes on this conspiracy.”
In pleading guilty to Conspiracy, Wolfe admitted paying kickbacks in return for “leads,” which were in actuality signed orders from physicians and nurse practitioners, and then billing those orders to a Medicare Advantage plan using WI Medical.
The financial total for orders facilitated through this scheme is alleged to be in the millions of dollars. Medicare beneficiaries were located in the Southern District of Georgia and elsewhere.
This particular prosecution resulted from a joint investigation of multiple agencies and offices. Acting U.S. Attorney Estes acclaimed the hard work of the investigatory team, led by FBI – Savannah, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, and the United States Secret Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan A. Porter prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
Wolfe is from Belleair Beach, Florida.
