South Florida telemarketer’s $20 million fraud bought Rolexes, a 1963 Mercedes and prison time
For four years, Delray Beach’s Marc Sporn spun the millions streaming to him from his Medicare fraud into ostentatious cars (a 1965 Porsche, a 2014 Bentley, a 1963 Mercedes) and jewelry (a $49,500 ladies diamond tennis bracelet, a $92,000 diamond necklace).
Starting in January, Sporn will spin in place, that place being federal prison after his sentencing to 14 years for attempt and conspiracy to commit mail fraud and attempt to evade income tax. Sporn, 59, also owes $24,045,779 total restitution, $4,212,850 of which will be to the IRS. Sporn dodged paying taxes for the years 2000, 2002-2011, 2014 and 2015.
THE WATCHES, THE CARS, THE JEWELRY
To help satisfy the restitution, a selloff is in progress of the goods that Sporn bought with his scheme. Court documents say he has already sold a 2020 Bentley convertible for $130,889.
A list of his purchases included with his guilty plea and how much Sporn paid for them:
18-karat gold Rolex men’s watch, $8,800;
Ladies’ diamond tennis bracelet, $49,500;
Diamond 18-karat men’s gold Rolex watch, $26,750;
Audemans Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Alinghi watch, $16,000;
20-karat diamond necklace, $20,000;
Custom 48-karat diamond necklace, $33,000;
Custom emerald cut, 48-carat diamond necklace, $92,000;
Men’s Rolex Masterpiece, $45,000;
Patek Philippe watch, $36,850;
33.75-karat diamond tennis necklace, $40,000;
Rolex Yachtsmaster 18-karat men’s gold watch, $25,999;
Patek Philippe Aquanut 5088 men’s watch, $35,000;
Patek Philippe 5950 men’s watch, $42,500;
1965 Porsche, $74,000; 2014 Mercedes G class, $135,680;
1971 Mercedes 280SL, $65,000;
2014 Bentley Flying Spur, $195,000;
1963 Mercedes 190SL bought and restored for $102,000;
27-foot Leopard Motoryacht named “MYTouchstone,” (about $804,440 at the average 2021 exchange rate) in Monaco;
102-foot Leopard Motoryacht named “MY RG 512,” (about $1,620,710) in Luxembourg.
Sporn also spent $35,000 renovating the kitchen at his Delray Beach home, where he lived with the listed owner, Michelle Larkin.
HOW THE MEDICARE FRAUD SCHEMES WORKED
Larkin and Sporn were on a joint bank account that was turned over in forfeiture along with an account
for New World Holdings and three accounts for Walmol Holdings. She’s also on the original 2014 state registration paperwork for Walmol and telemarketing company Medi-Biotech, the former as the company’s registered agent. Walmol existed as a shell company to put on bank accounts that took money transfers from Medi-Biotech bank accounts.
As described in Sporn’s guilty plea, he used MediBiotech to get “customers with certain health conditions to sign up to receive compounded prescription creams from pharmacies and laboratories affiliated with Medi-Biotech.”
The insurance companies got billed and the pharmacies and labs paid Sporn kickbacks from the profits. These pharmacies and laboratories billed the customers’ insurance companies for these compounded prescription creams, and paid Sporn kickbacks from the insurance payment profits.
Telemarketing call centers also came in handy for getting Medicare beneficiaries to take genetic tests that they didn’t need, Sporn’s guilty plea says. Then, Sporn would get doctor authorization for the tests.
“Sporn sold these for information, tests, and doctor’s orders to laboratories in exchange for kickbacks, including LabSolutions, LLC, Best Care Laboratory, LLC and Suretox Laboratory, LLC,” Sporn’s guilty plea says. “LabSolutions, Best Care and Surtox paid Sporn, through his companies, approximately $9,690,457 in kickbacks and bribes.”
Also, from January 2017 through April 2021, Sporn’s admission of facts says, “Sporn sold prescriptions, also known as doctor’s orders, authorizing Medicare beneficiaries to receive medically unnecessary orthotic braces, genetic tests, and topical creams.”
The doctors and Medicare beneficiaries were strangers. Prescriptions were written for the equipment and tests often without talking to the patients.