Two DME providers found not guilty

SAN ANTONIO – Kuba Zarobkiewicz and Anthony Fermin, owners of DME companies, were found not guilty this week of health care fraud, violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, and conspiracy charges by a federal jury. 

Zarobkiewicz and Fermin ran brace businesses through multiple companies beginning in 2020 and then voluntarily shut them down in late 2021.  They began cooperating with a law enforcement investigation in September 2022 and then were charged in December 2022 in the Western District of Texas, even though they were still providing the government with information. 

"We are grateful to the jury for finally ending the government's misguided prosecution of two business owners who tried to do the right thing," said Stephen Lee, counsel for Anthony Fermin.  "They were lied to and manipulated by other people, and we are grateful that the jury rejected the government's attempt to hold them accountable for the crimes and mistakes of those other people.  They were not perfect, but they were innocent." 

A marketer that was also charged and pled guilty testified that he had lied to Zarobkiewicz and Fermin about the marketing activities that he was hired to perform. He admitted telling them that he was engaged in extensive online advertising, when he actually had used an overseas call center that caused improper cold calls to be made to Medicare beneficiaries. 

"This was one of the most aggressive cases involving the Anti-Kickback Statute that I've ever seen," said Jonathan Meltz, counsel for Kuba Zarobkiewicz.  "The government's theory shows the dangers in letting prosecutors use such a broad, vague statute to prosecute cases that should have been handled civilly or administratively, not criminally."