Armando Valdes, Health Care Fraud Scheme, Florida 2023

State: Florida
Category: Fraud &#038; Financial Crimes
Source: <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/miami-doctor-sentenced-federal-prison-committing-38-million-health-care-fraud-scheme" style="color:#cc0000;" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">DOJ Press Release ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Â Ã¢â‚¬â€

A Miami doctor has been sentenced to 60 months in federal prison for directing a $38 million health care fraud scheme.

Armando Valdes, 63, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams for his role in the scheme, which involved submitting approximately $38 million in fraudulent claims to United Healthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield for infusions of the prescription drug Infliximab.

Infliximab, known by the brand name Remicade, is an expensive prescription immunosuppressive approved for the treatment of adult and pediatric Crohn’s disease, adult and pediatric ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and plaque psoriasis.

Valdes admitted as part of his guilty plea earlier this year that he never provided even a single infusion of the drug, nor did patients of the clinic require the medication.

As part of the scheme, Valdes employed a 91-year-old physician at Gasiel Medical Services who rarely treated patients and never prescribed Infliximab, but who Valdes listed as the rendering provider for all $38 million of the fraudulently billed Infliximab infusions.

Valdes also paid another individual to act as the nominee owner of Gasiel Medical Services, listing this individual as the president and registered agent of the clinic in corporate records and other official documents.

As a result of the scheme, Valdes will forfeit four real estate properties, including a beachfront condominium unit in Pompano Beach, as well as numerous luxury vehicles, including a Cadillac Escalade and a Tesla Model S, all of which he had purchased using the ill-gotten proceeds of his fraud scheme.

Valdes’ sentence includes 60 months in federal prison for his role in the scheme, which had a total value of $38 million. The scheme occurred from February 2015 through July 2021.

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