They swindled Medicare in $35 million scheme. What is their punishment?

A South Florida man who owned a chain of medical-equipment companies was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Wednesday after a federal jury found him guilty of healthcare fraud by paying bribes to get patients and billing $35 million in unnecessary services to the Medicare program.

Michael Kochen, 42, of Aventura, was also ordered to reimburse $19 million to the taxpayer-funded program by U.S. District Judge Donald Graham to recover Medicare’s payments to his business. The discrepancy stems from Medicare not paying all of his bills for thousands of orthotic braces.

Graham also sentenced Sandro Herek, 56, of Coral Springs, the owner of a telemarketing company, to more than seven years in prison. Herek’s business received kickbacks from Kochen in exchange for patient referrals and medical prescriptions.

Both men, who were convicted of conspiring to commit healthcare fraud and related bribery charges at trial in December, must surrender on Aug. 9 to prison authorities.

Kochen’s chain of about 30 companies — which operated under the CLADD Group LLC in North Miami — sold durable medical equipment such as knee, shoulder and wrist braces to patients who were referred by doctors affiliated with Herek’s telemedicine business, VirtualNet.

Graham decided to give both men shorter prison terms than suggested under federal sentencing guidelines — more than 27 years for Kochen and 11 years for Herek. Graham said he recognized such punishment for healthcare fraud involving kickback payments was inconsistent with other defendants convicted of similar crimes in South Florida.

Even federal prosecutors recommended a sentence of 20 years for Kochen. But they described him and his father, Marcello, 69, who was charged but did not face trial because of poor health, as “professional fraudsters.”

“We have a defendant who has still not accepted responsibility,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Cruz said, accusing Michael Kochen of “tricking” the Medicare program into paying for thousands of orthotic braces while “preying” on telemedicine patients who didn’t request or need them.

“This was a case of medicine backwards — a fraud from top to bottom,” added federal prosecutor David Turken.

Kochen’s defense attorneys argued that the magnitude of their client’s crime was not nearly as egregious as that of hundreds of other Medicare fraud felons in South Florida, which is recognized as the healthcare-fraud capital of the United States. They argued that unlike other similar defendants who don’t provide actual services or equipment, Kochen delivered supplies to patients across the country and deserved a five-year term.

“They bill for braces they don’t ship,” said defense attorney Christopher Cavallo, who worked on the defense with attorneys Jayne Weintraub and Jonathan Etra. “That’s not the case here.”

“That’s not a professional fraudster as the government called him” during Wednesday’s hearing, he said.

About 30 family members and friends attended the hearing in support of both defendants.

Kochen told the judge that he accepted the jury’s verdict and respected the process, saying: “I’ve always believed that if something happens on your watch, you own it.”

But the father of three young children asked the judge for leniency so he could have the opportunity to raise them with his wife. “She has been the foundation and rock of our home through all of this,” he said.

Herek’s defense attorney, David Tarras, said he moved with his family from Brazil to the United States on an “Einstein visa” a decade ago because of his past success with tech-related businesses.

Tarras disputed a cooperating government witness who described Herek as a “fraudster” at trial. The witness, Berioska Sosa, a pharmacist who pleaded guilty, had done business with Herek and Kochen.

“He didn’t come to this country to commit fraud,” said Tarras, who sought no prison time for Herek. “It simply isn’t true. The evidence at trial against him was extremely minimal. ... There was no quid pro quo here.”

Tarras showed videos in which colleagues described Herek as a devoted father who has volunteered as a coach in youth and masters swimming programs in Broward County.

Herek, who faces possible deportation to Brazil, told the judge that “nothing over the past two and a half years changed my love for this country. My dream continues to be for a healthy and normal life for myself and my family.”

According to an indictment, Michael and Marcelo Kochen were accused of paying kickbacks to Herek so his telemedicine company, VirtualNet, would refer patients to their business “without regard to the medical necessity.”

The objective of paying kickbacks to Herek and other operators of telemedicine companies was to obtain doctors’ prescription orders for patients enrolled in Medicare Advantage Plans, the indictment says. Those plans are operated by private insurers and reimbursed by the federal government under the Medicare system for the elderly.

To generate a stream of patients for the Kochens’ companies, Herek and others “employed call centers that used deceptive and misleading marketing tactics to recruit Medicare Advantage beneficiaries for medically unnecessary [braces],” according to the indictment.

The case, investigated by federal agents with the FBI and Health and Human Services, almost didn’t go to trial last fall before Judge Graham.

In late September, before the trial was to begin the following month, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi fired a Miami-based federal prosecutor who was in charge of the case. Bondi terminated Assistant U.S. Attorney Will Rosenzweig — while he was observing the Jewish New Year on Sept. 23 — because he had posted critical blog commentary about President Donald Trump during his first term while Rosensweig was working for a law firm in Washington, D.C.

As a result, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said it was not prepared to proceed without him. Turken, the prosecutor, asked Graham to delay the start of the trial until early November, saying if he didn’t grant the request, the office would consider dropping the charges.

Graham kept to his initial schedule to start the trial with jury selection on Oct. 6, but he delayed the opening statements and the government’s presentation of evidence until Nov. 3. Graham’s decision appeared to salvage the trial, giving the U.S. Attorney’s Office extra time to replace Rosenzweig with prosecutors Cruz and Robert Moore so they could get up to speed alongside Turken.