A New York man was charged in federal court in Boston Tuesday, and agreed to plead guilty, for his part in a long-running scheme to pay kickbacks to doctors in exchange for ordering medically unnecessary brain scans that led to $70 million in Medicare fraud, according to the Massachusetts US Attorney’s office.
Timothy Doyle, 45, of Selden, NY, was employed as an operations manager by TCD Co., a Long Island-based company that performed mobile diagnostic services, including transcranial doppler scans in several states, including Massachusetts.
Prosecutors allege that over at least seven years, Doyle and three other employees, who are not named in court documents, a head salesperson, a salesperson, and a finance manager, entered into kickback agreements with numerous doctors who ordered tens of thousands of unnecessary brain scans which were billed to Medicare and private insurers.
From June 2013 to September 2020, the scheme generated about $70.6 million in fraudulent billing to Medicare and an estimated $27.2 million in payments from the federal healthcare provider, according to charging documents,
Selden allegedly prepared contracts, sometimes delivered payments to doctors, and personally profited $1.1 million from the scheme, court filings said.
Under the terms of a plea agreement, Doyle waived indictment and agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks. In exchange, prosecutors will recommend a prison term of three years and seven months, to be followed by one year of supervised release, and restitution of $1,102,725.
The conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Doyle’s change-of-plea hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Court records show a West Hartford ophthalmologist also got caught up in the scam.
Donald Salzberg pleaded guilty to participating in the conspiracy and in May was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release. Salzberg was also ordered to pay $1,337,434 in restitution, according to court documents.
Tonya Alanez can be reached at tonya.alanez@globe.com. Follow her @talanez.