Related videos:
Michael Kochen, 42 years old and a resident of Aventura, was sentenced on Wednesday to 17 years in federal prison by a jury that found him guilty of healthcare fraud, after billing 35 million dollars for unnecessary services to the Medicare program through bribery to acquire patients.
According to a report by the Miami Herald, federal judge Donald Graham from the Southern District of Florida also ordered Kochen to reimburse 19 million dollars to the publicly funded program. The difference between what was billed and what he must return is due to Medicare not covering the full costs of thousands of orthopedic devices.
In the same case, Sandro Herek, 56 years old and a resident of Coral Springs, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison. Herek was the owner of VirtualNet, a telemedicine and telemarketing company that received bribes from Kochen in exchange for referring patients and obtaining medical prescriptions.
Both were found guilty in December 2025 of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and related bribery charges, and must surrender to the correctional authorities on August 9.
Kochen was the owner of a chain of approximately 30 companies operating under the name CLADD Group LLC, based in North Miami, which sold knee braces, shoulder braces, and wrist braces to patients referred by doctors affiliated with VirtualNet.
According to the formal accusation, the scheme used call centers with misleading marketing tactics to recruit beneficiaries of Medicare Advantage plans—managed by private insurers and reimbursed by the federal government—to receive orthopedic devices that they did not need.
Federal prosecutors described Kochen and his father, Marcello Kochen, 69 years old —charged but not tried due to his delicate health— as "professional scammers."
"We have a defendant who has not yet accepted his responsibility," said Assistant District Attorney Roger Cruz, accusing Kochen of "deceiving" the Medicare program while "taking advantage of" patients who had not requested or needed the equipment.
"It was a case of medicine gone wrong: a fraud from beginning to end," added federal prosecutor David Turken.
Judge Graham imposed lesser sentences than those suggested by federal guidelines, which contemplated more than 27 years for Kochen and 11 for Herek. Even the prosecutors themselves had recommended 20 years for Kochen.
The defense argued that their client, unlike others convicted of similar frauds, did deliver the equipment to the patients. "They charge for devices they don't send. That is not the case here," said attorney Christopher Cavallo.
Herek, who moved to the United States from Brazil with an "Einstein visa" about a decade ago, is also facing possible deportation. His attorney, David Tarras, stated that "there was no exchange of favors" and that the evidence against him was "minimal."
The case was nearly not brought to trial. In September 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi dismissed federal prosecutor Will Rosenzweig —while celebrating the Jewish New Year— for having published critical comments about President Trump on a blog during his first term. The prosecution threatened to withdraw the charges, but Judge Graham upheld the jury selection and postponed the presentation of evidence until November 3, 2025, allowing prosecutors Roger Cruz and Robert Moore to join.
Southern Florida is recognized as the capital of healthcare fraud in the United States, with dozens of similar cases processed in recent years, including a scheme involving 308 million dollars against Medicare and Medicaid in 2021 and another one for 31 million linked to telemedicine and orthopedic devices in 2023.
Herek told the judge that "nothing in the last two and a half years has changed my love for this country," and that his dream remains "to have a healthy and normal life" for himself and his family.
Filed under: