Medicare fraud trial set for doctor tied to Menendez

file photo by Boyd Loving

TERRY SPENCER, Associated Press9:23 a.m. ET March 6, 2017

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Many of the Medicare fraud charges against prominent Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen are complicated, but one is simple — federal prosecutors say he claimed reimbursement for treating both eyes of patients who have one prosthetic.

Melgen is scheduled to go on trial Monday in West Palm Beach, facing 76 counts charging him with stealing up to $190 million from Medicare between 2004 and 2013. Prosecutors say he prescribed unneeded treatments, filed claims for procedures he never performed and charged for medicine he never purchased. If convicted, the 62-year-old doctor faces up to 610 years in prison. He is free on $18 million bond. He faces a bribery trial this fall in New Jersey with Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/nation/2017/03/06/medicare-fraud-trial-set-doctor-tied-menendez/98798844/?utm_campaign=new-jersey-politics&utm_content=2017-07-03-9063084&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=New%20Jersey%20Politics