Atlantic County man sentenced for role in $50M health care fraud scheme

Matthew Fazelpoor//April 18, 2023//

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John Sher, a former Margate firefighter, was sentenced April 17 for his role in a $50 million scheme that prosecutors say defrauded New Jersey’s state and local health benefits programs and other insurers by submitting fraudulent claims for medically unnecessary prescriptions.

The 40-year-old Sher pleaded guilty last July to a superseding indictment charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler sentenced Sher to 37 months in prison, two years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay $2.77 million in restitution and $327,987 in forfeiture for his role in the scheme.

According to court documents and statements provided via prosecutors, Sher was part of a criminal conspiracy in which state and local government employees received medically unnecessary compound prescription medications. He was charged along with co-conspirator, Christopher Broccoli, a former Camden firefighter, who also pleaded guilty last July to the conspiracy charge.

“Sher and Broccoli caused the pharmacy benefits administrator to pay out millions of dollars for medically unnecessary compound prescription medications for individuals they recruited into the scheme,” said prosecutors. “Sher directly received $327,897 and Broccoli directly received $150,315 from the scheme.”

The pair were previously charged in 2019, alongside others, in an indictment with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud and other offenses.

Prosecutors say that the conspiracy was led by William Hickman, a former pharmaceutical salesman, who pleaded guilty in June 2020 to defrauding the state’s health benefits programs and other insurers out of more than $50 million.

Sher’s brother, Michael, another conspirator, pleaded guilty in 2018 to defrauding the state health benefits programs and other insurers out of more than $7 million. In September, his other brother, Thomas, another conspirator, was convicted on four counts of an indictment charging him with defrauding public health insurance plans out of nearly $1 million. His two brothers were also former Margate firefighters.