Rickey Kanter, former CEO and founder of Dr. Comfort, a Wisconsin company that sells shoe inserts for diabetics, agreed to plead guilty to mail fraud. Kanter will pay a $27 million civil fine and may face jail time as well. He is prohibited from participating in any federal health care programs for 15 years. Dr. Comfort, which was acquired by a California company, DJO Global, Inc., agreed to enter into a Corporate Integrity Agreement with the government.

Dr. Comfort allegedly sold diabetic shoe inserts that did not conform with Medicare requirements but were sold to Medicare patients and were reimbursed by Medicare.  The inserts initially produced by the company were considered too thin to qualify. The company claimed they were preproduction samples and submitted a different project, which was approved. However, Dr. Comfort continued to sell the thinner soles, marketing them as Medicare-approved.

The company’s COO, David Schlagater and Matthew Snorek, an employee, filed separate whistleblower lawsuits under the False Claims Act. Schlagater will receive more than $4 million and Snorek $800,000 as their shares of the recovery.

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