Former Brookline doctor convicted of health care fraud and tax fraud

Date: Jan. 29, 2026

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

BOSTON – A former Brookline, MA physician was convicted following a 10-day jury trial in federal court in Boston of health care fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Dr. Pankaj Merchia of Brookline, MA and Boca Raton, FL, was convicted on Jan. 27, 2026, of one count of health care fraud, three counts of money laundering, two counts of tax evasion and one count of conspiracy to defraud the IRS. U.S. Senior District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton scheduled sentencing for April 28, 2026. Merchia was indicted for money laundering and health care fraud in December 2022 and later charged for tax offenses in a superseding indictment along with alleged co-conspirator Dr. Shona Pendse in February 2023.

Merchia perpetrated two distinct health care fraud schemes. First, Merchia billed former patients’ insurance companies for monthly rentals of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) and Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure (BiPap) machines from 2017 to 2019, despite not having treated the patients since at least 2011. In some cases, the patients returned the devices to him. Merchia used the proceeds of this fraud to purchase an expensive home in Brookline.

Additionally, Merchia defrauded another insurance company out of over $390,000 by submitting claims for a CPAP machine provided to his brother. After he was told that the insurance carrier would not pay for treatment rendered by a family member, Merchia created a new medical business and submitted new claims so that the company would pay. Merchia used the proceeds of this fraud to fund a wire transfer of $250,000 and to purchase at least $140,000 in securities.

Finally, from 2009 to 2019 Merchia did not report, or pay taxes on, over $6.5 million in income he earned from his medical businesses by falsely claiming that those businesses were owned by his co-conspirator. To defraud the IRS, Merchia fabricated a sham transaction by which he claimed to have sold his medical businesses to his co-conspirator in 2008. To ensure that his co-conspirator did not owe taxes, they claimed large amortization deductions, spread across many years, for the fabricated sale.

The charges of money laundering and health care fraud provide for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charges of tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the IRS provide for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Thomas Demeo, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office; and Anthony M. DiPaolo, Executive Director of the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil J. Gallagher, Jr. of the Health Care Fraud Unit and Trial Attorney Ezra Spiro of the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Tax Section are prosecuting the case.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.