Three Florida men are going to prison after a federal judge locked them up for running a massive Medicare scam that cleaned out millions of taxpayer dollars.
Federal officials announced Tuesday that Marco Scamarone, 34, Jose Mendez, 34, and Renee Vazquez, 33, were all handed down prison terms for their roles in a giant healthcare fraud and money laundering ring. Mendez got the longest stretch with 78 months behind bars, while Scamarone was sentenced to 70 months and Vazquez received 60 months.
Court documents lay out a scheme that reads like a movie script. The three guys owned a couple of companies that were supposed to sell durable medical equipment, like back braces and knee splints. Instead of helping patients, they used these businesses—Braces and Orthotics LLC up in Virginia and Stone Oak Durable Medical Equipment LLC down in South Florida—to milk the government’s healthcare system dry.
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Between January 2022 and February 2023, the trio billed Medicare for a staggering $6.9 million. The problem? The patients did not actually need the braces, and the gear did not qualify for any kind of government payout. To pull it off, the group paid illegal bribes and kickbacks to an overseas marketing company. In return, that company fed them patient names and fake doctor notes to make the bills look real.
Once the Medicare money started rolling in, the men did not just deposit it into their regular bank accounts. They set up a web of fake business accounts, known as shell companies, to wash the cash and hide where it came from. By the time they were caught, they had successfully laundered more than $2.2 million to split between themselves and their partners in crime.
The law finally caught up with them late last year when all three men pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy charges in December 2025.
On top of their prison time, the judge is forcing them to pay back every single cent. Scamarone and Mendez were ordered to give up over $2.2 million in a forfeiture order and pay an additional $3 million in restitution. Vazquez is on the hook for a $1.7 million forfeiture and over $2.2 million in restitution.
A small army of federal agencies teamed up to bust the group, including the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Labor. The prosecution was handled by Trial Attorney Claire Horrell and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Pogozelski.
Government officials noted that this bust is part of a much bigger crackdown. The case fell under the Department of Justice’s Fraud Section and its Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since it started back in 2007, that specific program has caught more than 6,200 people who tried to cheat the healthcare system out of a combined $45 billion. Authorities say they are continuing to use these specialized task forces to hunt down anyone else trying to steal from federal benefits programs.
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