CUBAN NATIONAL PLEADS GUILTY IN FLORIDA HEALTH CARE FRAUD CASE

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Former Fugitive Pleads Guilty in Florida Multimillion-Dollar Health Care Fraud Scheme

A Cuban national who fled the United States and had been wanted since 2013 on federal criminal charges relating to a multimillion-dollar health care fraud scheme in the greater Tampa Bay, Florida, area pleaded guilty today for his role in the scheme.  

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III of the Middle District of Florida; Special Agent in Charge Paul Wysopal of the FBI’s Tampa, Florida, Field Office, Special Agent in Charge George Piro of the FBI’s Miami Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Shimon Richmond of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Miami Regional Office made the announcement.

Ubert Guillermo Rodriguez, aka Ubert Guillermo Rodriguez Sigler, 47, pleaded guilty in federal court in Tampa today to conspiracy to commit health care fraud.  Rodriguez was arrested on the health care fraud charges when he arrived at Miami International Airport on a flight from Cuba in October 2015.

According to documents filed in the case, Rodriguez was the president and owner of G.R. Services Equipment & Supplies Inc., a Largo, Florida, company that purported to provide durable medical equipment to Medicare beneficiaries.  From May 2013 through July 2013, Rodriguez’s company submitted approximately $2,579,695 in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare seeking reimbursement for durable medical equipment, such as wound care supplies, that was not legitimately prescribed by doctors and was not provided to beneficiaries.  For example, Rodriguez’s company sought reimbursement for thousands of dollars of negative pressure wound therapy electrical pumps and sterile collagen dressings purportedly provided in May and June 2013 to Medicare beneficiaries.  Federal law enforcement agents previously executed a seizure warrant on Rodriguez’s company’s bank account, resulting in the seizure of approximately $243,339 in proceeds of the health care fraud scheme.

HHS-OIG and the FBI are investigating the case, which and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Middle District of Florida.  Senior Trial Attorney Christopher J. Hunter of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section is prosecuting the case.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged nearly 2,000 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $6 billion.  In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

7 INDICTED FOR ROLES IN ALLEGED FLORIDA MORTGAGE FRAUD SCHEME

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 
Monday, March 31, 2014
Seven Indicted in Florida in Mortgage Scheme

Seven individuals have been indicted in the Southern District of Florida for their alleged participation in a mortgage fraud scheme in the Miami area.

The charges were announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. O’Neil of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Inspector General David A. Montoya of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Acting Inspector General Michael P. Stephens of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of the Inspector General.

A 19-count indictment, returned on March 13, 2014, by a federal grand jury and unsealed today, charges Miami-Dade County residents Luis Mendez, Stavroula Mendez, Luis Michael Mendez, Lazaro Mendez, Marie Mendez, Wilkie Perez and Enrique Angulo with one count of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud.   Some of those defendants have also been charged with bank fraud and wire fraud.   Stavroula Mendez, Luis Michael Mendez, Lazaro Mendez and Marie Mendez were taken into custody today and made their initial appearances before United States Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman in Miami, while the other three defendants remain at large.

As alleged in the indictment, Luis Mendez, Stavroula Mendez, Luis Michael Mendez, Lazaro Mendez and Marie Mendez owned or controlled various real estate properties in the Miami area.   They enlisted mortgage brokers and other individuals, including Perez and Angulo, to recruit straw buyers to act as qualifying mortgage applicants to fraudulently purchase condominiums in the properties.   The defendants prepared and caused to be prepared loan documents containing false statements and representations relating to the buyers’ income, assets and other information necessary to enable lenders to assess the buyers’ qualifications to borrow money, which induced the lenders to make loans to finance the condominiums.   Luis Michael Mendez and Marie Mendez are alleged to have submitted their own fraudulent loan applications for two condominiums, and they, as well as Luis Mendez and Stavroula Mendez, advanced the buyers cash to close the transactions.

After the loans were funded, the defendants allegedly caused fraudulent payments to be made from the loan proceeds to pay kickbacks through shell companies to the brokers, recruiters and straw buyers, as well as to pay the mortgages to conceal the conspiracy.   Eventually, the conspirators were unable to make mortgage payments, causing many of the condominium units to go into foreclosure and leading to losses by the lenders.

The charges contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case is being investigated by HUD-OIG and FHFA-OIG.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Gary A. Winters and Brian Young of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

HALFWAY HOUSE OWNER GOES TO PRISON FOR ROLE IN $205 MILLION MEDICARE FRAUD

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Owner and Operator of Florida Halfway House Company Sentenced to 51 Months in Prison for Role in Medicare Fraud Scheme
WASHINGTON – The owner and operator of New Way Recovery Inc., a Florida corporation that operated several halfway houses, was sentenced today to serve 51 months in prison for his role in a $205 million Medicare fraud scheme involving fraudulent claims for purported partial hospitalization program (PHP) services, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida; Michael B. Steinbach, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Miami Field Office; and Special Agent-in-Charge Christopher B. Dennis of the HHS Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigations Miami Office.

Hassan Collins, 41, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kevin Michael Moore in the Southern District of Florida. In addition to his prison term, Collins was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $2,413,675 in restitution, jointly and severally with co-conspirators.

On June 14, 2012, Collins pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to receive and pay health care fraud kickbacks.

According to court documents, from approximately April 2004 through approximately September 2010, Collins, along with co-conspirators, received kickback payments in exchange for referring Medicare beneficiaries, who did not qualify for PHP treatment, for purported PHP services to American Therapeutic Corporation (ATC), a Florida corporation that operated several purported PHPs throughout Florida. Collins and his co-conspirators caused false and fraudulent claims to be submitted to Medicare for PHP services purportedly provided to Medicare beneficiaries at ATC’s locations, when, in fact, the services were never provided.

In related cases, ATC, its management company, Medlink Professional Management Group Inc. and various owners, managers, doctors, therapists, patient brokers and marketers of ATC, were charged with various health care fraud, kickback, money laundering and other offenses in two indictments unsealed in February 2011. ATC, Medlink and more than 20 of the individual defendants charged in these cases have pleaded guilty or have been convicted at trial.

The case is being prosecuted by Fraud Section Trial Attorney Allan J. Medina. The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,480 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $4.8 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

PHYSICAL ABUSE OF FLORIDA PRISON INMATES LAND CORRECTIONS OFFICER IN PRISON

The following excerpt is from the Department of Justice website:

Wednesday, February 22, 2012
“South Florida Corrections Officer Sentenced on Federal Civil Rights Charge
MIAMI – A corrections officer was sentenced to prison today in federal court for a civil rights charge stemming from prisoner abuse that took place at the South Florida Reception Center (SFRC), a state prison in Doral, Fla., the Justice Department announced.  Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) officer Guruba Griffin, 32, was sentenced by District Judge Cecilia Altonaga to serve one year in prison, followed by one year of supervised release.

On Dec. 13, 2011, Griffin entered a guilty plea to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law. Griffin’s plea followed a trial in October 2011 where a jury was unable to reach a verdict as to his involvement in a civil rights conspiracy against inmates at SFRC.  Griffin’s co-defendant, Scott Butler, was acquitted by the same jury, while a second jury found Sergeant Alexander McQueen guilty of conspiracy against civil rights and obstruction of justice and convicted Officer Steven Dawkins for obstruction of justice.  McQueen and Dawkins were sentenced to twelve months in prison and one month in prison, respectively, in January of this year.

According to evidence presented at trial, on Feb. 25, 2009, SFRC corrections officers physically abused inmates by choking, punching and striking them with wooden broom handles.  The officers further forced the inmates to fight one another. Additionally, McQueen and Dawkins falsified reports relating to these incidents.

“Abuse of power by corrections officers who violate the civil rights of those in their custody will not be tolerated,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.  “The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute those who cross the line to engage in acts of criminal violence.”
“When individuals sworn to uphold the law instead abuse their power and infringe upon the civil rights of others, the public’s confidence in our system of justice suffers,” said Wifredo A. Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office remains committed to protecting everyone’s civil rights and promoting confidence in our system.”

“Officer Guruba Griffin violated the civil rights of prisoners under his control at a Florida Department of Corrections facility,” said Special Agent in Charge John V. Gillies of FBI Miami Division.  “His abusive treatment of these prisoners damaged the public’s trust in law enforcement.  The message to corrupt corrections officers is clear; engage in criminal misconduct and the FBI and our partners will bring you to justice.”
This case was investigated by the FBI and the Inspector General’s Office, Florida Department of Corrections, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Rhee Osborne of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and Senior Litigation Counsel Gerard Hogan and Trial Attorney Henry Leventis of the Civil Rights Division.”

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL AND OTHER OFFICIALS GO AFTER ILLEGAL PRESCRIPTION DRUG DISTRIBUTORS IN FLORIDA

The following is from the Department of Justice website:

“Friday, October 28, 2011
Attorney General Holder, Federal and State Officials Announce Enforcement Efforts Against Illegal Prescription Drug Distributors in Florida
More Than 100 Individuals Arrested to Date in Operations Targeting Pill Mills in Florida
WASHINGTON – Federal authorities, along with state and local law enforcement partners, conducted coordinated enforcement actions today against 22 individuals and one pharmacy allegedly involved in the illegal distribution of prescription drugs. This enforcement action, known as Operation Pill Nation II, was announced by Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Michele M. Leonhart and U.S. Attorney Robert E. O’Neill for the Middle District of Florida.
“Today’s actions mark important progress in our ongoing fight against one of the nation’s greatest public safety and public health epidemics: prescription drug abuse,” said Attorney General Holder. “Our targeted, aggressive enforcement actions are sending a clear message that in Florida, which has long been an epicenter for the illegal use and distribution of prescription drugs, the days of easily acquiring these drugs from corrupt doctors and pharmacists are numbered.”
“The days of going to Florida to easily obtain dangerous prescription controlled substances from corrupt medical professionals are coming to an end,” said DEA Administrator Leonhart. “DEA, in conjunction with its federal, state and local law enforcement partners, has implemented an aggressive and comprehensive strategy in Florida and throughout the United States to stop the diversion of prescription controlled substances that is fueling our country’s epidemic of prescription drug abuse. Operations such as Pill Nation II illustrate the steadfast determination of DEA and its law enforcement partners in ending Florida’s role as the epicenter for rogue pain clinics in the United States.”
“The heightened cooperation among local, state and federal law enforcement agencies over the past several months demonstrates the commitment to combat this growing problem,” said U.S. Attorney O’Neill. “Those involved in these types of illegal activities should know that we will continue to investigate, enforce and prosecute those responsible for violating their professional oaths and putting lives in danger.”
Among the 22 people arrested today in Orlando and Tampa, Fla., were five doctors and two pharmacists, who have been charged for their alleged roles in illegally distributing prescription drugs. The court documents unsealed and filed today allege the individuals charged illegally diverted controlled substances.
DEA agents, working alongside state and local law enforcement partners, also executed six search warrants in the Tampa area and served two immediate suspension orders to a doctor and a pharmacy. These orders revoke their authority to dispense or prescribe controlled substances. In addition, approximately $500,000 in U.S. currency and assets were seized today.
Prior to today’s actions, efforts undertaken as part of Operation Pill Nation II have led to the arrest of 49 individuals. In addition, the DEA today announced the addition of a third Tactical Diversion Squad in Florida. This new group will be in Orlando and responsible for investigating prescription drug diversion in Central Florida.
Operation Pill Nation I, which was announced in February 2011 in South Florida, has resulted in the arrest of 47 people to date, including 17 doctors and five clinic owners, and the seizure of more than $18.9 million in cash and assets. In addition, more than 70 doctors, six pharmacy owners and five DEA Registered Controlled Substance Distributors have been stripped of their DEA registrations.
Pill mills are operations in which physicians, pharmacies or clinics prescribe controlled substances, without the proper assessment or due care to legitimate patients.
As part of continuing efforts to protect people – especially children and teens – from the dangers of misused or abused prescription drugs, DEA is sponsoring its third National Prescription Drug Take Back Day tomorrow, Oct. 29, 2011. This event allows people to dispose of expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs at more than 5,000 collection sites throughout the United States, including 17 sites in Tampa and Orlando. During the previous two national Prescription Drug Take Back events, a total of more than 309 tons of prescription drugs were collected nationwide. To learn more about the program or find a Saturday collection site near you, go to: www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/NTBI/ntbi-pub.pub?_flowId=public-flow‪.
The cases announced today were investigated by the DEA; the Tampa Police Department; the Manatee County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office; the Lakeland, Fla., Police Department; the Pinellas County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office; the New Port Richey, Fla., Police Department; the Naples, Fla., Police Department; the Fort Myers, Fla., Police Department; the Hillsborough County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office; and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the Middle District of Florida.”

TWO FLORIDA RESIDENTS PLEAD GUILTY FOR A $25 MILLION HEALTH CARE FRAUD SCHEME

The following excerpt is from the Department of Justice Website:

“Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Two Miami-Area Residents Plead Guilty in $25 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme
WASHINGTON – Two Miami-area residents pleaded guilty late yesterday in U.S. District Court in Miami for their participation in a $25 million home health Medicare fraud scheme, announced the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the FBI.
Maritza Vidal, 44, and Richard Diaz, 26, each pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joan A. Lenard to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Vidal and Diaz admitted that they participated in a fraud scheme to bill the Medicare program for expensive physical therapy and home health care services that were prescribed by doctors but were medically unnecessary and never provided.
According to court documents, ABC Home Health Inc. and Florida Home Health Providers Inc., two related Miami home health care agencies, purported to provide home health and therapy services to Medicare beneficiaries. However, according to court documents, the agencies only existed to defraud Medicare. From approximately January 2006 until approximately March 2009, Vidal worked for ABC and Florida Home Health as a registered nurse and a patient recruiter and Diaz worked for Florida Home Health as a patient recruiter
Vidal and Diaz both admitted to recruiting Medicare beneficiaries who would allow ABC and Florida Home Health to bill Medicare for home health care and therapy services that were medically unnecessary and/or never provided. In doing so, the defendants solicited and received kickbacks and bribes from the owners and operators of the home health agencies in return for allowing the companies to bill the Medicare program on behalf of the recruited patients. The defendants knew that the patients they recruited did not qualify for the services billed to Medicare. In addition, the defendants knew that the patient files for their recruited patients were falsified in order to make it appear that the patients qualified for the services.
Vidal admitted that she and her co-defendant nurses falsified patient files for Medicare beneficiaries by describing non-existent symptoms such as tremors, impaired vision, weak grip and inability to walk without assistance. Vidal included these symptoms in patient files to make it appear that the patients were unable to self-inject insulin and were homebound, thus appearing to qualify for home health care benefits under Medicare. Vidal admitted that she knew the beneficiaries did not qualify for and did not receive the services and that the files were falsified so that Medicare could be billed for medically unnecessary services.
As a result of Vidal’s participation in the illegal scheme, Medicare was billed approximately $395,000. As a result of Diaz’s participation in the illegal scheme, Medicare was billed approximately $28,000.
The defendants were originally charged in a February 2011 indictment. Fifteen other co-conspirators have pleaded guilty for their roles in the fraud scheme: Jose Nunez, M.D., Lisandra Alonso, Luisa Morciego, Vicente Guerra, Farah Maria Perez, Licet Diaz, Fidel Castro, Jose Ros, Eneida Fry, Oscar Martinez, Juana Rivas, Lesder Casanova, Ignacio Angulo, Raul Alvarez and Barbara Gonzalez.
Vidal and Diaz are scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 9. 2012. Sentencings for the other defendants have been scheduled for various dates in October, November and December 2011.
The charge of conspiracy to commit health care fraud carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. The defendants also face fines and terms of supervised release, as well as forfeiture of any property or proceeds derived from their criminal activities.
The guilty pleas were announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida; John V. Gillies, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Miami field office; and Special Agent-in-Charge Christopher B. Dennis of the HHS-Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigations Miami office.
This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Joseph S. Beemsterboer and Acting Assistant Chief Benjamin D. Singer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG, and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.”