{"id":58771,"date":"2025-04-21T16:56:19","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T23:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=58771"},"modified":"2025-04-21T16:56:19","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T23:56:19","slug":"operators-of-new-jersey-company-sentenced-to-prison-for-roles-in-127-million-health-care-fraud-and-kickback-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=58771","title":{"rendered":"Operators of New Jersey Company Sentenced to Prison for Roles in $127 Million Health Care Fraud and Kickback Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEWARK, N.J.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Two men who ran a New Jersey marketing company were sentenced to prison for orchestrating a massive health care fraud and kickback scheme that defrauded Medicare and TRICARE of over $127 million, federal officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eric Karlewicz, 46, of New York (a.k.a. \u201cAnthony Mazza\u201d), was sentenced to 51 months in prison, and Nicco Romanowski, 33, of Georgia, received 80 months. <\/span><\/p>\n

Both pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges involving health care fraud and illegal kickbacks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Between 2017 and 2019, the pair used their company, Empire Pain Center Holdings LLC, to target Medicare and TRICARE recipients, pressuring them to accept unnecessary medical braces. Empire paid telemedicine firms and doctors kickbacks for prescriptions\u2014often issued without ever speaking to the patient\u2014and funneled these orders to DME suppliers, also in on the scheme. In return, Empire received more than $63 million in kickback payments.<\/span><\/p>\n

Authorities say the false claims exceeded $127 million, funding a lavish lifestyle that included luxury cars like Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Bentleys.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to prison, both were sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $127.6 million in restitution. Karlewicz must forfeit over $63 million; Romanowski over $5.5 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

Karlewicz and Empire also settled a civil case, admitting to False Claims Act violations and accepting a $63.8 million consent judgment.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEWARK, N.J. Two men who ran a New Jersey marketing company were sentenced to prison for orchestrating a massive health care fraud and kickback scheme that defrauded Medicare and TRICARE of over…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOperators of New Jersey Company Sentenced to Prison for Roles in $127 Million Health Care Fraud and Kickback Scheme<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NEWARK, N.J. 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