A former Brookline, Mass. physician has been sentenced to 58 months in prison for healthcare fraud, money laundering and tax evasion, the Justice Department said in a June 8 news release.
Pankaj Merchia, MD, 52, was convicted in January 2026 on multiple counts stemming from two distinct fraud schemes. In the first, Dr. Merchia billed insurance companies for monthly rentals of CPAP and BiPAP machines for patients he had not treated since at least 2011, in some cases for devices that had been returned to him. In the second, he defrauded an insurance company out of more than $390,000 by submitting claims for a CPAP machine provided to his brother through a newly created medical business after being told the insurer would not cover treatment rendered by a family member.
Dr. Merchia also failed to report more than $6.5 million in income from his medical businesses between 2009 and 2019 by fabricating a sham sale of those businesses to a co-conspirator. He was ordered to pay $1,847,931 in restitution.
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