Press Release
JURY CONVICTS TWO MIAMI RESIDENTS OF $51 MILLION HIV-INFUSION FRAUD
October 5, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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, Christopher B. Dennis, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Miami Regional Office, Daniel W. Auer, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, and Amos Rojas, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Miami Region, announced that on Friday, October 2, 2009, defendant Scarlet Duarte, of Miami, FL, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to launder money and five counts of money laundering and defendant Rechart Garcia, of Miami, FL, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, three counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to pay health care kickbacks, one count of conspiracy to launder money, and five counts of money laundering.
According to the evidence presented at trial, the fraud involved purported treatment of HIV- positive Medicare beneficiaries at five clinics located in Miami-Dade County (Research Center of Florida, Inc., M & C Health Center, Corp., Project New Hope, Corp., L & R Medical Center, Corp., and L & B Health Center, Inc.), and a sixth clinic that operated in Collier and Lee Counties (RL & V Medical Services, Corp.). The conspirators paid Medicare beneficiaries to pretend to receive treatment at the clinics, and then billed Medicare for treatment that was never provided and would not have been medically necessary. In total, the six clinics submitted approximately $51.8 million in fraudulent claims, based on which Medicare paid them approximately $21.1 million. The conspirators obtained access to much of the Medicare payments by making payments to shell corporations (businesses that existed only on paper and provided no true services to the clinics), and to individuals who cashed checks from the clinics and returned the cash to the conspirators.
Duarte operated three of the shell corporations, which received a total of approximately $720,000 from five of the clinics. Duarte withdrew some of this money in cash and returned the cash to a conspirator involved in operating the clinics and used part of the money to pay businesses designated by the conspirators.
Garcia was the vice-president of L & R Medical Center and the sole officer of RL & V Medical Services, two clinics that jointly submitted more than $10 million in fraudulent Medicare claims. Garcia paid more than $400,000 to shell corporations controlled by the conspirators and to individuals who returned the money, in cash, to the conspirators.
Sentencing has been scheduled for December 14, 2009. Garcia faces a maximum sentence of ten (10) years' imprisonment on each count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and health care fraud and five (5) years’ imprisonment on the count of conspiracy to pay health care kickbacks. Duarte and Garcia each face a maximum sentence of twenty (20) years’ imprisonment on each count of conspiracy to launder money and money laundering.
Fifteen (15) other defendants were previously convicted of, or are currently awaiting sentencing for, various fraud and money laundering charges related to the operation of the same six clinics. These defendants were prosecuted in this case and in United States v. Fernandez et al., Case No. 06-20322-CR-Altonaga, United States v. Tur, Case No. 09-20496, and United States v. Perez, Case No. 09-20528-CR-Gold.
Mr. Sloman commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Osborne.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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