U.S. Department
of Justice
Florida Strike Force
Miami is the site of the Health Care Fraud Unit’s first strike force. Launched in 2007, the Miami model has become a model for federal health care law enforcement in cities across the country, like Los Angeles, Detroit, and Houston, as well as in other cities in Florida, including Tampa and Orlando.
Where We Are
First in Miami, then in Tampa and Orlando, the Florida Strike Force has achieved tremendous success prosecuting health care, kickback, money laundering, and other complex fraud schemes, as well as prescription drug and opioid distribution cases. The Florida Strike Force works closely with United States Attorneys’ Offices in the Southern District of Florida and the Middle District of Florida, as well as with agency partners to prosecute complex fraud and opioid schemes. Currently, the Department of Justice has ten prosecutors dedicated to the Florida Strike Force. These attorneys and those who preceded them have convicted hundreds of defendants, including doctors, clinic owners, lab owners, substance abuse treatment facility owners, patient recruiters, nurses, therapists, and other medical professionals, who perpetrated fraudulent health care schemes throughout Southern Florida, Tampa and Orlando. Cases spearheaded by prosecutors of the Florida Strike Force has resulted in some of the largest prosecutions (by Medicare money stolen) for health care-related crimes in the country, regularly charging frauds reaching into the tens and hundreds of millions of dollars.
Involvement
The Florida Strike Force regularly participates in nationwide and statewide fraud enforcement actions, including the 2021 National Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action; the 2019 Operation Double Helix Enforcement Action; the 2019 Texas Health Care Fraud and Opioid Enforcement Action; and the 2019 Operation Brace Yourself Enforcement Action.
Recent Cases
See below for more information on some of the Florida Strike Force’s recent cases.
- United States v. Patel (S.D. Fla.)
- United States v. Carver (S.D. Fla.)
- United States v. Markovich (S.D. Fla.)
- United States v. Santeiro (S.D. Fla.)
- United States v. Lazaro Hernandez (S.D. Fla.)
- United States v. Ruiz (S.D. Fla.)
- United States v. Palacios (S.D. Fla.)
- United States v. Scott (M.D. Fla.)
- United States v. Lavache (M.D. Fla.)