A physician who ran the American Cancer Treatment Centers in Rockledge and Titusville for almost 20 years failed to put up a defense in a whistleblower Medicare fraud case because he thought it was moot when his medical practice filed for bankruptcy. But it wasn't, as the Orlando Sentinel reports.
There's now an $89 million judgment against Wasfi Makar in the case, which accuses him of falsely billing Medicare. A former employee, Joseph McBride, brought the case on behalf of the government, but federal attorneys declined to join the case.
Now Makar is scrambling to defend himself; his attorney, Chad Alvaro of Orlando, asked a federal judge to set aside the judgment but was unsuccessful, the Sentinel reports.