Orthopedic exec gets 8 months in prison for role in kickback scheme

Bruce Thomas, the owner of Pinnacle Orthopedic Services, an orthopedic devices and orthotics company, was sentenced to eight months in prison Sept. 10 for his role in a kickback scheme, according to Bethesda Magazine.

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Mr. Thomas pleaded guilty in May to giving David Laufer, former chief of prosthetics and orthotics at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., $20,000 in cash, airplane tickets and other items in exchange for the hospital’s business.

Pinnacle received $20 million from Walter Reed for prosthetics and orthotics from 2012 to 2019 through blanket project agreements.

Mr. Thomas was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and $28,000 in restitution in addition to serving eight months in prison. Mr. Laufer pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme last October and faces up to two years in prison.

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