Two Florida men, Nicholas A. Alberino, 61, of Boca Raton, and his son, Nicholas P. Alberino, 34, of Parkland, have been arraigned on charges related to an alleged multimillion-dollar scheme involving durable medical equipment (DME) and prescription drug fraud. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, the charges against the Alberinos include conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute, and multiple counts of violating the Anti-Kickback Statute.
The indictment alleges that between February 2018 and April 2019, the Alberinos operated five Florida-based companies that obtained medically unnecessary prescriptions for costly medications and DME through a telemarketing and telemedicine operation. Targeting Medicare beneficiaries, the Alberinos allegedly used call centers to contact individuals and persuade them to accept high-cost prescriptions and DME. They are accused of then sending beneficiaries’ personal information, along with pre-prepared prescriptions, to RediDoc LLC, a telemedicine company involved in the scheme.
Instead of basing the prescriptions on actual medical needs, the Alberinos allegedly chose medications and DME items with high reimbursement potential, particularly through Medicare. RediDoc reportedly forwarded these prescriptions to doctors who typically signed off without patient assessments. Once signed, the prescriptions were allegedly sent to third-party DME suppliers and pharmacies that had bribery and kickback agreements with the Alberinos.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Alberinos paid over $6 million in kickbacks to RediDoc, receiving more than $27 million from third parties in return. They also reportedly collected over $1.7 million from Medicare by submitting fraudulent claims through their own companies. In total, Medicare paid at least $27 million to various suppliers and pharmacies based on the fraudulent prescriptions initiated by the Alberinos.
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