A Florida-based marketer was sentenced to 41 months in prison for buying and selling more than 2.6 million Medicare beneficiary identification numbers and other personal identifying information, the Justice Department said in an April 11 news release.
Charles McElwee, 36, of Palm Beach, pleaded guilty in January to one count of conspiring to violate the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015. He is one of the first to be prosecuted under the law, which made it illegal to buy, sell, or distribute Medicare beneficiary identification numbers without proper authority.
Mr. McElwee previously said he and others used data mining and social engineering techniques to collect Medicare beneficiary information, which he then advertised and sold online.