Brookline doctor Pankaj Merchia indicted for money laundering in two health care fraud schemes [masslive.com]

A doctor from Brookline was indicted on Tuesday for money laundering and healthcare fraud, according to U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins.

Pankaj Merchia, 49, a sleep medicine physician of Brookline and of Boca Raton, Florida, was indicted on three counts of money laundering and one count of health care fraud, Rollins said. Merchia self-surrendered and was in federal court at 3 p.m. on Tuesday in Boston, according to the attorney.

The indictment stated Merchia committed two different healthcare fraud schemes. The first was that Merchia had allegedly continued to bill former patients’ insurance companies for the use of sleep apnea machines (the CPAP and BiPap machines) for years after the former patients had stopped using the machines or returned them to Merchia’s office.

According to the attorney, Merchia allegedly used the money he received from the fraud to buy an expensive house in Brookline.

The second scheme Merchia allegedly committed was against a family member of a patient — the doctor allegedly billed the family member over $400,000 for a monthly CPAP machine rental, even though he knew the insurance carrier wouldn’t pay for treatment through a patient’s family member. The attorney said Merchia used the money from this scheme to wire transfer $250,000, and purchase at least $140,000 in securities, or stock.

Money laundering and health care fraud charges can land an individual up to 10 years in prison with three years of supervised release, along with a $250,000 fine, the attorney said.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Graber and Evan Panich of Rollins’ Health Care Fraud Unit and Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit, respectively, were prosecutors on the case.

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