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8-06-2025 10:51am
Canton Man Pleads Guilty as Co-Conspirator in Multi-Million Dollar Health Care Fraud Scheme
Darlene Cancell
Editor
A Canton man on August 4th has pled guilty in federal court in Boston to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, as part of a scheme to defraud Medicare of over $4 million, announced United States Attorney Leah B. Foley on August 5th, along with representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division, the U.S. Department of Health, the Human Services Office of Inspector General.
Krishna Gidwani, age 55, is accused of submitting claims to Medicare for durable medical equipment (DME) that were medically unnecessary, unwanted by Medicare beneficiaries, and tainted by kickbacks. He is expected to be sentenced in early November of this year.
The charge of conspiracy to commit health care fraud provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, supervised release for up to three years and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office charged Mr. Gidwani in June. Mr. Gidwani, along with co-conspirators that include Canton and Sharon residents, worked at a DME company which paid telemarketing companies to obtain orders for orthotics such as ankle, wrist, knee and back braces to supply Medicare beneficiaries. The DME equipment was unnecessary or unwanted and the conspirators used signatures of unwitting doctors.
A co-conspirator, 61-year-old Raju Sharma of Sharon, was charged in February with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. He agreed to plead guilty in May and his plea hearing is scheduled for September.
Mr. Sharma was owner of the DME companies Pharmagears, LLC and RR Medco, LLC which the U.S. Attorney’s Office says contracted with telemarketing companies to generate DME orders that were unnecessary and unwanted. Mr. Sharma is believed to have worked with many co-conspirators, including family and acquaintances, to open additional DME companies that also operated in this manner.
Mr. Sharma is accused to spending the substantial profits from these activities to purchase to purchase luxury goods, including two Ferraris, a Mercedes-Benz Model S and at least three Rolex watches. As part of his plea agreement, he has agreed to forfeit these luxury goods, as well as over $250,000 in cash investigators seized from his bank accounts.
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