Federal prosecutors are asking a Florida court to hand down a 40-year prison sentence to an ophthalmologist who was found guilty of Medicare fraud.

David Ming Pon, 57, was found guilty last September of cheating Medicare out of $11 million dollars by making phony diagnoses then giving elderly Medicare patients years of unnecessary laser treatments.

The 12-member jury deliberated about two hours before finding Pon guilty of 20 counts of Medicare fraud.

“Anything other than decades in prison will discourage respect for the law, as it will send the message that stealing millions of dollars from Medicare and treating your patients in the worst possible manner richly outweighs the risk of getting caught and punished,” the 40-page sentencing memorandum states.

Defrauded Medicare Patients Given False Diagnoses

Court documents state that in the mid-2000s, Pon began lying to Medicare patients, telling them that they suffered from macular degeneration, a progressive eye disease that can lead to blindness.

According to prosecutors Pon lied to more than 500 Medicare patients, telling them they had a degenerative eye disease, then performed unnecessary laser treatments, prompting Medicare to millions.

Pon, who owned Advanced Retina Eye Institute with Florida locations in Leesburg and Orlando, would make fake diagnoses and then treat the Medicare patients with unnecessary laser treatments.

He also would perform unnecessary additional diagnostic testing, such as injecting them with dyes, a practice that could lead to cardiac arrest and other health risks, prosecutors said.

The scheme lasted from the mid-2000s to September 2011, prosecutors said.

To get away with the fraudulent diagnoses, Pon would create sham medical notes, writings and records stating that Medicare patients had wet macular degeneration, according to the indictment. He would then tell patients that unless he performed the treatments, they would go blind.

“This generation of Pon’s victim patients reflexively respected and trusted physicians,” the memorandum states. “Indeed, sentencing hearing testimony will establish that Pon would personally tell victim patients that they should be thanking him because he was the one saving their eyesight.”

In total, Pon fraudulently billed Medicare for $33.6 million, of which the government reimbursed almost $9.6 million. The government then approximated the amount that secondary insurers paid Pon to be roughly $1.9 million.

The sentencing memorandum goes on to state that “the level of depravity Pon exhibited to fuel his own greed shows a complete lack of character and empathy for others. Pon’s conduct can only be described as evil,” the government said.

Filing a Whistleblower Lawsuit

In a whistleblower lawsuit also known as qui tam lawsuit, like the one involving Pon, an individual with knowledge of an organization’s activities provides information about Medicare or Medicaid fraud, corruption or other illegal activity.

Whistleblowers are often employees, former employees and others who have access to company documents and internal information.

Whether you have evidence of Medicare fraud against the government or corruption at a private company, an experienced whistleblower attorney can investigate your claim and advise you on your legal options.

The Medicare Whistleblower Lawsuit is Case No. 3:14-cr-00075, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.