Rapper Flo Rida once sang that the \u201cClub Can\u2019t Handle Me,\u201d and perhaps one Floridian health care founder felt the same way.<\/p>\n
But for Brett Blackman, 42, the founder and owner of HealthSplash, his luxe lifestyle \u2014 which included shooting a music video and owning a mansion \u2014 caught up to him as he was convicted on May 13 for one of the \u201cmost egregious\u201d Medicare fraud schemes in Florida history. He even flaunted his wealth in a music video.<\/p>\n
Must Read <\/p>\n
\u201cThis was cold, calculated, industrial-scale theft targeting the sick and elderly, coercing vulnerable people into buying unnecessary medical equipment,\u201d acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a May 14 press release (1). \u201cWe will not rest until every fraudster ripping off the American people is held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blackman could face 30 years in prison over health care fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks, conspiracy to defraud the United States and to make false statements in connection with healthcare matters.<\/p>\n
His partner in crime, Gary Cox, 79, was convicted and sentenced to 15 years for his part in the scheme in June 2025 (2).<\/p>\n
A billion-dollar fraud operation <\/p>\n
Federal prosecutors said Blackman helped operate a company that generated about $1 billion in fraudulent doctors\u2019 orders used to bill Medicare and other federal services under the companies Healthsplash Inc. and Power Mobility Doctor Rx.<\/p>\n
South Florida was the base of operations for the scheme, which included Miami-Dade County, as well as Kansas and Arizona. The alleged fraud took place from 2015 through 2020 and involved executives tied to Blackman\u2019s companies.<\/p>\n
Healthsplash and the other companies ran an online portal that produced doctors\u2019 orders for braces, prescription creams and other medical supplies. Those orders were then funneled to medical suppliers, including pharmacies, which used them to submit claims to Medicare, among others.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defendant orchestrated a scheme to defraud government healthcare benefit programs on a massive scale, creating fraudulent doctors\u2019 orders used to bill insurers over $1 billion,\u201d the head of the Justice Department\u2019s Criminal Division, Matthew Galeotti, said (3). \u201cAmericans are all too familiar with junk mail and spam calls that target seniors to steal their personal information and promote waste, fraud, and abuse in our economy. The Criminal Division will continue to aggressively prosecute health care fraud schemes to hold criminals accountable, protect the vulnerable, and recover financial losses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read More: Taxes are going to change under Trump\u2019s \u2018big beautiful bill\u2019 \u2014 4 reasons you can\u2019t afford to waste time<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Older adults can be protected from similar scams <\/p>\n Advocates for older adults say one of the best ways families can protect older relatives from Medicare fraud is by regularly reviewing Medicare Summary Notices and insurance statements for unfamiliar charges, equipment or providers.<\/p>\n Some other examples of Medicare fraud, according to the National Council on Aging, include (4):<\/p>\n Charging for services or supplies that were not provided<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Misrepresenting a diagnosis, a person\u2019s identity, the service provided or the means to justify payment<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Prescribing or providing excessive or unnecessary tests and services<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Offering or receiving a bribe in exchange for a beneficiary\u2019s Medicare number<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Experts also warn older adults to be suspicious of unsolicited phone calls, emails or advertisements offering free medical equipment or services in exchange for Medicare information. Representatives will never ask you for your Medicare or Social Security number over the phone (5).<\/p>\n Suspected fraud can be reported to Medicare (6), the Department of Justice National Elder Fraud Hotline (7) or state consumer protection agencies (8). Early reporting not only helps the victims, but can also prevent further schemes from continuing to target others.<\/p>\n You May Also Like <\/p>\n Join 250,000+ readers and get Moneywise\u2019s best stories and exclusive interviews first \u2014 clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Article Sources <\/p>\n We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n Justice (1)<\/a>, (2)<\/a>; Vaoig (3)<\/a>; Ncoa (4)<\/a>; Consumer Ftc (5)<\/a>; Medicare (6)<\/a>; Ovc Ojp (7)<\/a>; Occ (8)<\/a><\/p>\n This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com<\/a> under the title: CEO photographed wearing gold dollar-sign chain convicted in $1B Medicare scheme targeting 100,000s of seniors<\/a><\/p>\n This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rapper Flo Rida once sang that the \u201cClub Can\u2019t Handle Me,\u201d and perhaps one Floridian health care founder…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":824033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[35],"tags":[338592,7780,338593,210,1141,25993,1142,36052,3235,246528,9593,711,94,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-824032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-brett-blackman","tag-dave-ramsey","tag-fraud-schemes","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-health-care-fraud","tag-healthcare","tag-medical-equipment","tag-medicare","tag-medicare-fraud","tag-robert-kiyosaki","tag-social-security","tag-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116642938189122453","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n