Acting United States Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced that a Louisiana man pleaded guilty in connection with a five-year scheme to submit millions of dollars in fraudulent claims to Medicare for expensive and medically unnecessary medical equipment. According to court documents, Michael L. Riggins, 62, of West Monroe, Louisiana, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud for his role in a durable medical equipment (DME) scheme. Riggins was the owner of Bluewater Healthcare (Bluewater), a DME supply company in West Monroe. From 2018 to 2023, Riggins paid for doctors’ orders for medically unnecessary DME and tricked doctors into signing DME orders and certificates of medical necessity in order to bill for it. Despite receiving hundreds of complaints regarding the fraudulent orders, Riggins submitted over $3.8 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for supplying medically unnecessary DME and was reimbursed over $1.8 million.