January 28, 2008

Prof. Benson Weintraub to Present "Defense of a Criminal Healthcare Fraud Case" at Health Care Compliance Association's 12th Annual Compliance Institute

Professor Benson Weintraub, Esquire, a Ft. Lauderdale-based global health care attorney and counselor with an international practice and clientele, and a distinguished academic authority on the Federal sentencing of corporations and individuals, has been invited to present "Defense of a Criminal Healthcare Fraud Case" at Health Care Compliance Association's (HCCA) 12th Annual Compliance Institute to be held in New Orleans April 13-16, 2008.

Weintraub has served as a full-time Professor of Law. During his legal career, Porf. Weintraub has successfully represented complex white collar targets, corporations, business entities, executives, defendants, and witnesses as a tenacious, exclusively federal white collar criminal defense lawyer for more than 25 years.

Among his credits has defended more than 60 Physicians, Health Care Delivery Corporations & Organizations, DME Distributors, Internet Pharmacies, Pharmacists, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, and public officials on hospital regulatory boards throughout the nation.

He also represented David Paul in the failed CenTrust Bank case as well as reputed drug lords, Willie Falcon and Salvador Magluta.

Weintraub recently represented Arne Soreide, a high profile telecom executive convicted after trial (by other counsel) in Fort Lauderdale of a $22m fraud, successfully convincing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta that his 25 year sentence of imprisonment must be reversed, which the appellate court conceded was improper.

Weintraub was appointed by the first Chairman of the US Sentencing Commission to assist the fledgling agency in drafting its initial sentencing guidelines for organizations and individuals.

His extensive academic writing has been widely published or cited in Yale L.J., Harvard Law Review, Federal Sentencing Reporter, Stanford Journal of Law & Policy, Notre Dame Law Review, Federal Probation (US Courts), etc., and health care blogs.

Florida Board Certified Criminal Trial Lawyer Robert David Malove is Of Counsel to Benson Weintraub, LLC, upon whom a Masters Degree in Forensic Science, was conferred on Malove by the distinguished George Washington University in Washington DC. Malove received his JD from Pepperdine University School of Law. He has completed the Graduate Certificate Program in Healthcare Corporate Compliance at George Washington University and is Certified in Healthcare Compliance (CHC) by the Compliance Certification Board of HCCA. For more information visit www.healthcarefraudblog.com.

January 23, 2008

Medicare Fraud Defendant Sentenced in Florida

548707_barbed_wire__2.jpgOn January 10, Cesar Romero was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Patricia A. Seitz to forty-six months in jail and remanded into immediate custody for his role in a multi-million dollar Medicare billing fraud scheme on which Romero previously had pled guilty. Romero faced a potential sentence range of 46 to 57 months in prison, but was sentenced to the low-end of the advisory guidelines' sentencing range called for under an Adjusted Offense Level of 23. Romero's counsel disputed the 2-level upward departure from the base offense level of 21 with a lower advisory sentencing range of 37 to 46 months incarceration.

253463_iv_drip_-_intravenous_therapy.jpgRomero took part in a scheme in which a phantom health clinic, named “The Real Group & Associates, Inc.,” was incorporated in South Florida and subsequently billed Medicare for reimbursement for non-existent drug infusion and injection therapies typically prescribed to AIDS and chemotherapy patients. Nearly $17 million of false claims were submitted to Medicare for reimbursement, resulting in payments of more than $2.5 million on the false claims. To date, law enforcement has recovered more than $1.6 million of the fraud proceeds. At sentencing, Romero was held responsible, in part, for recruiting and managing the straw owner of the clinic, and for the creation and control of the clinic’s corporate bank accounts that were used to transfer and disburse the Medicare fraud proceeds through a series of fraudulent financial transactions.

If you or someone you know has been charged with healthcare fraud or is under investigation, call attorney Robert Malove.

September 18, 2007

Palm Beach Medicare Fraudster Pleads Guilty to Mail Fraud & Money Laundering

wpb.jpgOn September 6, 2007, Gianni Suarez Vazquez, a participant in a massive Medicare fraud scheme, pled guilty in federal court in West palm Beach, Florida, to mail fraud and money laundering charges. He is scheduled to be sentenced before U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks on November 15, 2007.

According to the court records, between November 2003 and August 2004, Suarez Vazquez incorporated or set up two medical equipment companies, GK Medical, Inc. and Suplident International Corporation, in Palm Beach County. Thereafter, he obtained Medicare provider numbers for both companies to enable the companies to submit claims directly to Medicare. To conceal his ownership and control of the companies, Suarez Vazquez designated "strawmen" as company owners, including his mother, on the corporate documents and Medicare Provider Agreements.

Continue reading "Palm Beach Medicare Fraudster Pleads Guilty to Mail Fraud & Money Laundering" »

September 7, 2007

Fed's Charge Texas Man with Medicare Fraud in Patient Transport Scam

On August 28, 2007, a federal grand jury indicted the former operations director of A-Care EMS Inc. on charges that he sent fraudulent claims to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to pull in more money.

The indictment, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, claims Rodney Lee Ramos, 34, of Weslaco, instructed emergency medical technicians to transport patients for dialysis who were not confined to bed."

ambulance.jpgAccording to the indictment, Ramos worked as an EMT coordinator for A-Stat Ambulance Services Inc., which was owned by Guadalupe Garces Jr. and Araceli Garces. Medicaid and Medicare placed a vendor hold on that ambulance provider -- withholding payment to the company -- after federal agents determined that the owners were defrauding the federal and state health insurance programs.

May 22, 2007

Feds Add More Resourses to Fight Healthcare Fraud

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Program Integrity Group at recently opened a field office in Santa Ana, California, aimed at preventing and prosecuting health care fraud.

"In the two years since the office has been up and running, we have been able to stop almost $2billion in inappropriate or improper payments from going out the door," program director Kimberly Brandt said.

Like the Medicare Fraud Strike Force office in South Florida that arrested 38 people for defrauding the federal program out of more than $142million, the Santa Ana office uses "data mining" technology to target fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid billings.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Consuelo Woodhead, who coordinates federal health care fraud prosecutions in Los Angeles, officials could double the number of law enforcement personnel fighting the problem and still fall short of having enough people to make a significant difference.

Woodhead thinks, that "to really effectively deal with the problem, we're going to have to take a multidisciplinary approach where you look at licensing and certification, how claims are processed, as well as strong criminal and civil enforcement after claims are paid."

May 7, 2007

Florida Legislature Passes Bill to Combat Medicaid Fraud

The Florida House and Senate have passed an important piece of legislation which, when signed into law by Governor Charlie Crist, will mirror the Federal False Claims Act. The False Claims Act allows the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to recover triple damages in civil lawsuits against those who commit Medicaid Fraud.

Under Federal law, all states that participate in the Medicaid program must also have a Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Florida’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit is operated by the Office of the Attorney General and is a joint Federal-State funded law enforcement agency. The unit, working with the Agency of Health Care Administration’s (AHCA) Bureau of Medicaid Program Integrity, investigates and seeks prosecution for criminal fraud and is empowered to “seek any civil remedy provided by law.”

This legislation will increase the recovery for Florida by 10 percent on all civil actions. In 2005, the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit secured over $76 million in settlements for Florida’s consumers. Nearly the entire amount was recovered through the use of the False Claims Act.

"Those who exploit and defraud our Medicaid program steal critical health care dollars from those who desperately need these services. Once signed into law, this legislation will not only strengthen our enforcement tools but more importantly, will return millions of dollars in Medicaid resources to the elderly, the disadvantaged and others in need," said Attorney General Bill McCollum. "I commend the Legislature for passing this important legislation which will assist our state combat Medicaid fraud and punish those who selfishly cheat the system."

May 1, 2007

Miami-Dade Couple Busted for $200,000 Medicaid Fraud

A Miami-Dade husband and wife, both licensed occupational therapists, were arrested on charges they defrauded the Florida Medicaid program out of more than $200,000.

Investigators with the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit after receiving information from the Agency for Health Care Administration.

The investigation discovered that the Sanfords allegedly billed Medicaid for providing two or three different types of services during the same 15 minutes of face-to-face therapy, although Medicaid can only reimburse for one treatment. A number of the children who were subjected to these therapies were under the age of ten and several of them are disabled. The Sanfords’ facility, also known as Fit for Kids, is located in North Miami Beach.

The Sanfords are each charged with grand theft and organized scheme to defraud, both first-degree felonies. The charges each carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Additionally, the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit seized funds from several bank accounts controlled by the Sanfords pursuant to the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act. The Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office will prosecute the case.