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Press Release

Eight Individuals Arrested For Bribery, Conspiracy, Health Care And Mail Fraud

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, P.R. – On February 24, 2016, a Federal grand jury returned a fourteen count indictment against eight individuals for bribery, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, mail fraud, and aggravated identity theft, announced Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. The investigation was led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General, with the collaboration of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Secret Service, United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Puerto Rico Department of Health Medicaid Anti-Fraud Unit.

The Medicaid Program (“Medicaid”) is a federal health benefit program intended to provide benefits to low-income individuals and families.  Medicaid is monitored and funded by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) through its agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”).  In the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Medicaid is referred to in Spanish as “Mi Salud,” or “Plan de Salud del Gobierno” (PSG).  Mi Salud beneficiaries included Medicaid participants and “state only funded health care recipients,” commonly referred to as “Commonwealth participants.” An individual’s eligibility for Medicaid or Commonwealth health care benefits depends on certain eligibility requirements.

Although Medicaid is federally-funded, it is administered by the states and/or United States territories, including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. HHS provided the Puerto Rico Department of Health (PR-DOH) approximately $1 billion annually to fund and/or reimburse the costs of Medicaid. 

Within the PR-DOH, the Office of the Medicaid Program, also known in Spanish as “Programa De Asistencia Médica,” or “Programa De Medicaid,” was responsible for handling applications for Medicaid as well as the Commonwealth health plan eligibility, certification and recertification process. Medicaid and the Commonwealth health plan eligibility was determined by a Program Technician, a government employee from the Programa de Asistencia Medica. 

The indictment charges three agents of the Programa de Asistencia Medica Santurce Office with receiving monetary bribes in exchange for certifying individuals as eligible to receive Medicaid health care benefits. The charged agents the Programa de Asistencia Medica are (1) Defendant Luis González-Cordova, a clerk in the Santurce office who dealt with Mi Salud participant files and individual applicants that sought Mi Salud benefits; (2) Defendant Karen Curet-Nieves, a program technician in the Santurce office who evaluated and determined the eligibility of Mi Salud applicants, input data in the MEDITI system, and approved Mi Salud benefits for participants; and (3) Defendant Orlando Negrón-Bonilla, a program technician in the Santurce office who evaluated and determined eligibility of Mi Salud applicants, input data in the MEDITI system, and approved Mi Salud benefits for participants. 

The indictment alleges that from on or about July 9, 2014, through on or about October 10, 2015, Luis González-Cordova, Karen Curet-Nieves, and Orlando Negrón-Bonilla aiding and abetting one another, did corruptly solicit, demand, accept, and agree to accept a thing of value from a person, to wit, cash payments, intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with a transaction and series of transactions of Programa De Asistencia Médica involving $5,000 or more. All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 666(a)(1)(B), 2(a), and 2(b). Rather, than abiding by their duties to ensure participants were in fact low-income and eligible for Medicaid, defendants abdicated those responsibilities in exchange for cash. Those defendants and various “runners” are also charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, conspiracy to commit health care fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1347 and 1349, mail fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1341, and aggravated identity theft in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A.

During the course of the conspiracy and scheme, defendants Ruben Escalera-Rivera, Perfecto De Leon-Toribio, Luis Caceres-De Leon, Luis Angel Garcia-Rosa, and Andrea Jimenez-De Jesús, acted as “runners,” soliciting and referring individuals to defendant Luis González-Cordova for their fraudulent entry into the Medicaid health care benefit programs. The runners would recruit individuals to be fraudulently enrolled into the Medicaid health care benefits programs in exchange for cash bribes and monetary payments without personally meeting with the individuals to determine their eligibility as required by PR-DOH procedures. The runners delivered cash bribes to defendant Luis González-Cordova and upon receiving the personal identification information, including names, social security numbers, dates of birth, and addresses, from the runners, Luis González-Cordova  would provide it to Karen Curet-Nieves or Orlando Negrón-Bonilla by text or handwritten note for entry into the MEDITI database. Karen Curet-Nieves and Orlando Negrón-Bonilla fraudulently certified the participants as eligible to receive Medicaid health care benefits.

Defendant Karen Curet-Nieves approved twenty to thirty unqualified individuals per week into the Mi Salud program for a fee of $10.00 each and Orlando Negrón-Bonilla approved twenty to thirty unqualified individuals per week into the Mi Salud program for a fee of $10.00 to $30.00 each. 

The individually identifiable information for eligible participants was transferred daily to the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration, known in Spanish as “Administración de Seguros de Salud de Puerto Rico” (“ASES”), in order to complete the enrollment process with the various contracted “Managed Care Organizations” (“MCO’s”). Medicaid health insurance cards for the MCO’s were then sent via regular mail to the participant.

ASES paid monthly premiums to the MCOs for the purposes of providing Medicaid health care benefits. Monthly premiums were paid to MCO’s regardless of whether the participant required medical care services. MCO’s also received federal monies for utilization of the health care plan. As a result, each participant fraudulently certified as eligible for Medicaid health care benefits would result in the fraudulent payment of federal Medicaid funds to MCO’s. This amount could range from hundreds to thousands of dollars per participant depending on the corresponding premiums and utilization. 

In conjunction with this investigation, the Puerto Rico Department of Health Medicaid Anti-Fraud Unit is sending approximately 6,000 notification letters to participants whose eligibility has been identified as suspicious. Over 130 participants have been mailed notifications already.
 
“Today’s arrests by HHS-OIG agents and our law enforcement partners show that we will not tolerate the improper use of health care program funds such as Medicaid which are  essential to the welfare of low-income families in our community.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office and federal law enforcement agencies will continue to investigate, charge and prosecute those who corruptly enrich themselves at the expense of the Medicaid program,” said United States Attorney, Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez.
   
“The Medicaid program provides health care benefits to low-income individuals and families, and the fraudulent enrollment of individuals into the program is unacceptable. HHS-OIG and its law enforcement partners will continue to aggressively pursue to the fullest extent of the law those who seek to unlawfully enrich themselves by defrauding Medicaid,” said Scott Lampert, Special Agent in Charge of HHS-OIG New York Regional Office.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Luke Cass and Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Erbe.  The case was investigated by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, with the collaboration of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Secret Service, United States Postal Inspection Service, the Puerto Rico Department of Health Medicaid Anti-Fraud Unit and the Puerto Rico Police Department.

If convicted, the defendants face a sentence of up to twenty years of imprisonment plus a mandatory two year term of imprisonment for aggravated identity theft. Criminal indictments are only charges and are not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. 

Updated February 25, 2016

Topics
Financial Fraud
Health Care Fraud
Identity Theft
Public Corruption
StopFraud