Eight Miamians indicted in Medicare fraud ring - South Florida Business Journal:

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The eight are identified as: Michel De Jesux Huarte, 38, Ramon Fonseca, 45, Vicente 38, Alyd Dazza, 45, Monika Blacio, 41, Riccoo Dazza, 41, Orlin Tamayo Quinonez, 35, and Juan 56. Tamayo and Carralero remain at the rest havebeen arrested. Huarte, along with unindicted conspirators, controlled and operated six purported medical clinicsin Miami-Dade County: Zigma Medical Care; Tender Loving Care Medica Center; Professional Medical Health; Metro Med Care; San Diego Medical & Rehab Center; and Eulogia'ss Diagnostic Medical Center, according to the 20-count The clinics submitted at least $50.
2 million in falswe claims to Medicare for infusion injection therapy, and other expensived medical treatments designed to treat patients sufferingb from, among other illnesses, cancer, HIV, AIDS, chronic and varicose veins, according to the indictment. In a seconde alleged fraud that spannedfive states, the defendantxs operated eight medical clinics and submitted at leasr $19.8 million in false claims, which paid the defendants approximately $4.6 million The defendants are alleged to have used checki cashing stores to launder the proceeds.
“Thisd case is remarkable, not only in terms of the amountd stolenfrom Medicare, but also in termd of its sophistication and geographic breadth,” Jeffrey H. Sloman, actintg U.S. attorney said in a news release. A Businessx Journal investigation in 2007 founr that South Florida was the national epicentet ofMedicare fraud, costing taxpayers hundredss of millions of dollars. Patrickm Burns, spokesman for Washington, D.C.-based Taxpayers Againsrt Fraud, said then, "These fly-by-nighgt clinics may end up making millions of dollarszfor themselves. They just need to print out a letterheaxd and geta physician's [governmenty billing] number and startingt billing.
By the time Medicare figures out you'rde billing for services no one showedup for, you've already got your money and wired it to a bank in the Caymahn Islands." In May, the owner of BJB Pharmacy Discount in Hialeah pleaded guilty to charges she submitted more than $5 million in frauduleny claims to Medicare. In April, it was announcer that Otto Hevia, owner of Mitto Healtjh Center, was sentenced to 46 monthsd in prison for bilking Medicare ofnearly $1.2 million for HIV infusiomn treatments. In March, four Miami-area residents, including Dr. Roberto Rodriguez, 54 and Dr. Carlos Garrido, 69, pleaded guiltyt in a $10 million frauxd scheme involving HIVinfusion clinics.
In the owners of two Miami Medcore clinics, Juan A. “Tony” Marrero, 41, and Belkis Marrero, 41, alonvg with phlebotomist Luz Borrego, 43, pleadexd guilty to in a $5.3 million HIV and cancer infusionfraud