By Tiffany Williams –
Boston — A suburban Chicago businessman who prosecutors say helped rip off Medicare with a brace scam has been sentenced to federal prison after a scheme that funneled more than $2 million in fraudulent claims through the health care system.
Kartik Bhatia, 36, of Geneva, Illinois, was sentenced in federal court in Boston to two years in prison after admitting his role in a fraud conspiracy tied to a durable medical equipment company that billed Medicare for braces many patients never needed and never asked for.
The sentence was handed down by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Patti B. Saris after Bhatia was charged in August 2025 with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of making false statements.
At the center of the case: a pipeline that pushed braces — ankle, wrist, knee and back orthotics — onto Medicare beneficiaries whether they needed them or not.
Federal prosecutors said Bhatia worked with Raju Sharma and other co-conspirators to own and operate a durable medical equipment company that relied on telemarketing companies to generate orders. Those telemarketers targeted Medicare recipients and steered orders for braces back to the company.
But investigators said the medical necessity behind many of those braces simply did not exist.
Often, the Medicare beneficiaries did not need or want the braces that were shipped to them. In many cases, the doctors whose signatures appeared on the orders did not treat the patients and did not prescribe the equipment.
Despite that, claims kept flowing into the Medicare system.
The scheme generated more than $2 million in fraudulent billing tied to durable medical equipment, according to federal authorities.
And when regulators moved to shut it down, prosecutors say Bhatia didn’t stop — he simply pivoted.
After the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a payment suspension against the company tied to the operation, Bhatia opened a new durable medical equipment company and continued the same conduct, according to court records.
That move — essentially relaunching the same operation under a different banner — became a critical part of the federal case.
The sentencing in Boston marks the latest example of federal prosecutors targeting durable medical equipment fraud, a sector that has long been vulnerable to telemarketing-driven scams and questionable prescriptions tied to government health programs.
In this case, the pipeline was simple: telemarketing leads, questionable orders, braces shipped out, and Medicare billed.
But investigators say the reality behind those transactions was far different — patients receiving equipment they never asked for, doctors connected to orders for people they did not treat, and a billing stream that ultimately landed in federal court.
Now Bhatia is headed to prison. Two years behind bars for a scheme that prosecutors say tried to turn the nation’s Medicare system into a payday.