Owner of Durable Medical Equipment Company Sentenced to 90 Months for $59.9 Million Medicare Fraud

A Texas man has been sentenced to 90 months in federal prison for his role in a $59.9 million conspiracy to pay kickbacks and submit claims for medically unnecessary durable medical equipment to Medicare. Patrick Cassells, 65, of Fulshear, Texas, owned and operated three DME companies and concealed his involvement in one of those entities by falsely identifying another individual as the owner on a Medicare enrollment application.

According to court documents, Cassells paid illegal kickbacks to co-conspirators who provided signed doctor’s orders for orthotic braces including knee, back, shoulder, and wrist supports. The kickbacks were disguised by referring to the doctor’s orders as leads and the services as marketing. Notably, the orders were issued without physicians examining or treating the patients. Cassells then submitted claims falsely representing that the braces were medically necessary, causing over $59.9 million in false claims to Medicare, which paid more than $27 million. He used fraud proceeds to purchase personal vehicles and vehicles intended for export to Nigeria.

Cassells pleaded guilty in June 2024 to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. In addition to the prison sentence, he was ordered to pay approximately $25.4 million in restitution and forfeiture, and to forfeit four vehicles and three properties in the Houston area.

This case reflects the government’s aggressive pursuit of durable medical equipment fraud, a persistent area of Medicare abuse where bad actors exploit the high volume of claims and the difficulty of verifying medical necessity from paperwork alone. The investigation was conducted by the HHS Office of Inspector General, the FBI, and the Texas Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.