FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge is ordering a prominent Florida eye doctor behind bars to pay millions more in restitution.
FILE – In this April 28, 2017 file photo, Dr. Salomon Melgen arrives at the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach, Fla. The politically prominent Florida eye doctor could get 30 years in prison or more for stealing $100 million in one of history’s largest Medicare frauds. A sentencing hearing for Dr. Melgen resumes Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018, after a four-week hiatus. (Lannis Water/Palm Beach Post via AP, File)
The Palm Beach Post reported that this week U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra upped the restitution owed by Dr. Salomon Melgen by more than $10 million to a total of $52.9 million.
Melgen was sentenced in February to 17 years for stealing $73 million from Medicare by persuading elderly patients to undergo excruciating tests and treatments they didn’t need for diseases they didn’t have.
The Post reported that after Melgen was sentenced, federal prosecutors identified additional insurers and former patients who paid Melgen for eye treatments that were unnecessary.
Defense attorneys for Melgen didn’t object because they are appealing Melgen’s conviction on 67 charges of health-care fraud and his sentence.
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