A Texas man was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years and six months in prison for leading a $61.5 million health care and wire fraud scheme that targeted Medicare beneficiaries through deceptive telemarketing, federal officials stated.
Robert “Bobby” Leon Smith III, 50, of Archer City, Texas, owned and operated seven durable medical equipment supply companies in Florida, Texas and Maryland.
Through those companies, he submitted millions of dollars in false Medicare claims for orthotic braces and foot baths that patients did not need, according to court records and trial evidence.
Prosecutors stated Smith also ran a Texas-based marketing company that used an offshore call center in the Philippines to target Medicare beneficiaries nationwide.
Telemarketers pushed unnecessary braces, foot baths and genetic tests, and recordings played at trial captured Smith pressuring patients to accept the items even after they refused.
Authorities said Smith obtained doctors’ orders by paying kickbacks and bribes to telemedicine companies, then sold those orders to medical suppliers he knew would use them to file fraudulent Medicare claims. Testimony showed the scheme later relied on fake orders with forged physician signatures.
Smith pleaded guilty in March 2025 to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, and to one count of health care fraud, after four days of trial.
He later failed to appear for sentencing and was captured more than a month later by the U.S. Marshals Service.
A judge ordered Smith to pay $30.2 million in restitution, forfeit more than $9.2 million and surrender Texas real estate.