On August 29, Florida chiropractor Jonathan Michael Rouffe was sentenced after pleading guilty in June 2020 to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. In 2018, Rouffe and his co-conspirators had created several durable medical equipment supply companies. By placing the companies in straw owners’ names, they were able to obscure their ownership and obtain control of more companies than Medicare ordinarily permits. Rouffe and his co-conspirators then paid millions in unlawful kickbacks and bribes to physicians in return for a high volume of DME referrals. Over the course of one year, the companies submitted over $20 million in DME claims and received over $10 million in payments. For this conduct, the judge sentenced Rouffe to four years in federal prison; ordered forfeiture of $3,127,290, the proceeds of the criminal actions; and ordered Rouffe to pay restitution of $10,725,607.15.