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Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Michael J. Folmar, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, and Christopher B. Dennis, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, announced today’s sentencing of defendant Heriberto Camacho-Garcia, 36, of Miami-Dade County, following his conviction on health care fraud and money laundering offenses. In 2004, Camacho-Garcia had been the president of Best Choice Medical Services, Inc., a business that purportedly provided durable medical equipment (DME) to Medicare beneficiaries. According to documents filed in the...

A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted the owners and operators of a Los Angeles-area durable medical equipment company of Medicare fraud, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Thomas P. O’Brien; and Glenn R. Ferry, Special Agent-in-Charge for the Los Angeles Region of the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health of Human Services announced today. After a one-week trial in federal court in Los Angeles, the jury found Gevork Kartashyan, 45, guilty of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and health care fraud; and Eliza...

HOUSTON—Dr. Arun Sharma and his wife, Dr. Kiran Sharma, M.D., both 54, have been charged in a 29-count indictment alleging conspiracy to unlawfully dispense and distribute controlled substances outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose, United States Attorney Tim Johnson, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Zoran B. Yankovich and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced today. The indictment alleges the two doctors illegally distributed 1.3 million tablets of hydrocodone and further charges the two doctors with conspiracy to defraud Medicare, Medicaid and several private health insurance companies of $31 million by...

Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, and Christopher B. Dennis, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Miami Regional Office, announced that defendants Jose Luis Perez, of Golden Beach, FL, and Reinaldo Guerra, of Miami, FL, were indicted on June 30, 2009 on charges of conspiracy to commit Medicare fraud, Medicare fraud, and aggravated identity theft. According to the Indictment unsealed today, the fraud involved durable medical equipment (DME), which is...

Miami physician Roberto Rodriguez, 54, was sentenced today to 97 months in prison for his role in a Medicare fraud scheme involving HIV infusion services, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Jeffrey H. Sloman of the Southern District of Florida and Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). Rodriguez was also ordered to pay more than $9 million in restitution to the Medicare program during today’s sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck. Rodriguez pleaded guilty before Judge Huck on March 23, 2009,...

Eight Miami-Dade County, Florida residents have been indicted in connection with an alleged $22 million Medicare fraud scheme operated out of Miami businesses purporting to specialize in home health care services, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Jeffrey H. Sloman of the Southern District of Florida, and Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). A temporary restraining order freezing assets of the indicted defendants and their companies was also filed. Gladys Zambrana, Javier Zambrana, Enrique Perez, Alejandro Hernandez Quiros (aka Alex Hernandez), Vanessa Estrada, Vicenta...

Detroit Medicaid Scam Video Homeless scam... http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/17996832/index.html "Hey if you were homeless and had a adiction, you'd do it too!!!"

WASHINGTON—Fifty-three people have been indicted for schemes to submit more than $50 million in false Medicare claims in the continuing operation of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force in Detroit, Attorney General Eric Holder, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and FBI Director Robert Mueller announced today. The Strike Force in Detroit is the third phase of a targeted criminal, civil and administrative effort against individuals and health care companies that fraudulently bill the Medicare program. While the indictments were returned by a grand jury in Detroit, individuals were arrested today in Detroit, Miami, and Denver as...

Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, Daniel W. Auer, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, and Al Lamberti, Broward County Sheriff, announced that defendants Michel De Jesus Huarte, 38, Ramon Fonseca, 45,Vicente Gonzalez, 38, Alyd Dazza, 45, Monika Blacio, 41, Ricco Dazza, 41, Orlin Tamayo Quinonez, 35, and Juan Carralero, 56, all residents of Miami, FL, were indicted on June 18, 2009, on Medicare and other fraud-related charges. More specifically, defendants Vicente Gonzalez, Alyd Dazza,...

The former co-owner and board chairman of City of Angels Medical Center pleaded guilty to paying illegal kickbacks for patient referrals in United States District Court in Los Angeles today. Robert Bourseau, 74, who maintains residences in Rancho Mirage and downtown Los Angeles, admitted to paying illegal kickbacks as part of a scheme to defraud Medicare and Medi-Cal by recruiting homeless persons from Los Angeles’ Skid Row. Bourseau and Dante Nicholson, a former senior vice-president at City of Angels, were indicted in January by a federal grand in Los Angeles. Also named in the indictment was Intercare Health Systems, Inc.,...

Four Miami-area residents were sentenced today in connection with a $10 million Medicare fraud scheme involving HIV infusion clinics, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta of the Southern District of Florida announced. Alexis Dagnesses, 44; Gonzalo Nodarse, 38; Alexis Carrazana, 41; and Dr. Carlos Garrido, 69, all pleaded guilty in March 2009 to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud before U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck. Today, Judge Huck sentenced Dagnesses to 90 months in prison, to be followed by a three-year-term of supervised release. Dagnesses was...

HOUSTON—Mazen Abdallah and Wesam Abdallah, of Houston, have each been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for their roles in a multi-million dollar ambulance fraud case, acting U.S. Attorney Tim Johnson announced today. The prison terms were handed down on Tuesday, May 12, 2009, by United States District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal. In addition to the prison terms, the court ordered Mazen, 28, and Wesam, 33, to pay restitution of $637,425 to Medicare and Medicaid and to forfeit a similar amount to the United States. The brothers were ordered into federal custody immediately after yesterday’s hearing to begin serving...

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, Daniel W. Auer, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, and Al Lamberti, Sheriff, Broward County Sheriff’s Office, announced that defendants Michel De Jesus Huarte and Ramon Fonseca, both of Miami, FL, were arrested today on a criminal complaint charging them with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. If convicted, each defendant faces a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in prison...

Prosecutors are investigating the award of $122 million to 21,000 senior citizens in south Florida for artificial arms or legs. Suits have been filed against 48 small businesses and a South Carolina billing agency that submitted the claims, The Miami Herald said. The concern started when U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga wondered how the government could pay out so much to 21,000 amputees in one area of the country in recent years. "Common sense dictates this is an impossibility," Altonaga said

Did you know about the new Medicaid laws? Well my husband and I just found out. We are being sewed by Medicaid for past medical bills Medicaid paid for, when our son was born three years ago. This came to us suddenly without warning. I had an emergency C section, and our son was in the neo natl. care unit for a week. So the sum of what they want back is over nine thousand dollars. So the new house we were planning on buying is out of the question. We don't mind paying back the money so much but...

Three Generations Charged in $14.5 Million Medicare Fraud By Catherine Wilson/Associated Press Jun 18, 2004 MIAMI (AP) - Three generations of a family were blamed by federal prosecutors Friday for $14.5 million in Medicare fraud that routed false claims through medical suppliers, billing companies and a clinic. Investigators tracked some of the money to real estate, six banks in the Dominican Republic, wire transfers to Costa Rica and a Porsche Boxster. Money also went for jewelry including Rolex, Cartier and Philippe Patek watches, diamond rings and gold earrings. The scam was detected in Medicare claims for durable medical equipment, a...

WASHINGTON -- Only 13 percent of people who received taxpayer-sponsored motorized wheelchairs from Medicare actually qualified for one, and a third of the recipients didn't need any sort of wheelchair at all, according to a federal audit presented to a U.S. Senate panel Wednesday. Improperly obtained powered chairs cost Medicare $178 million in 2001 alone, investigators for the Department of Health and Human Services told the Finance Committee. The chairs are among the most expensive hardware Medicare will pay for, costing the government more than $5,000 each. The Senate committee began its own investigation, culminating in Wednesday's hearing, after the...

Power wheelchair industry lobbies against Medicare — (02/29/2004) (Washington-AP) -- A New Braunfels, Texas-based company is among four businesses undertaking a national lobbying campaign to challenge Medicare's new get-tough policy on reimbursements for power wheelchairs.

DALLAS - Federal authorities on Thursday arrested 11 people, including a doctor, alleging that they bilked Medicare out of $15 million in fraudulent power-wheelchair claims.

<p>While federal authorities investigate a pattern of suspicious Medicare billings involving Southern California doctors and Silicon Valley patients, at least one of the doctors identified in a Mercury News investigation has continued to collect government payments under questionable circumstances.</p> <p>Officials believe hundreds of elderly Silicon Valley residents were recruited as unwitting participants last year in a scheme that allowed doctors and medical-testing companies to collect more than $1 million in Medicare payments for services that may have been unnecessary or were never performed.</p>