Kartik Bhatia, Medicare Fraud, Massachusetts 2025

Boston’s courts dealt a severe blow to a Medicare scam that bilked the system for over $2 million.

Kartik Bhatia, a 36-year-old Geneva, Illinois man, was sentenced to two years in prison for his role in a brazen fraud scheme that targeted Medicare.

According to court records, Bhatia worked with a network of co-conspirators, including Raju Sharma, to own and operate a durable medical equipment (DME) company that paid telemarketing companies for DME orders. The DME orders were often for medically unnecessary orthotics like ankle, wrist, knee, and back braces.

But here’s the kicker: the Medicare beneficiaries rarely needed or wanted these braces, and the doctors whose signatures appeared on the orders often didn’t treat these beneficiaries and didn’t prescribe the DME. In some cases, the orders were tainted by kickbacks.

When the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a payment suspension to Bhatia’s DME company, he simply opened a new DME company that engaged in the same conduct.

Bhatia was charged in August 2025 with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of making false statements. He was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Patti B. Saris.

A team of federal authorities, including United States Attorney Leah B. Foley, Roberto Coviello, Special Agent in Charge of the Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General, and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division, announced the sentencing.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Graber and Sarah Hoefle of the Criminal Division prosecuted the case.

Bhatia’s scheme may be over, but the damage has already been done. Medicare beneficiaries may have been ripped off for millions of dollars, and the very fabric of the healthcare system may have been compromised.

As Bhatia begins his two-year sentence, one thing is clear: crime doesn’t pay, especially when it comes to Medicare scams.

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