MIAMI-AREA RESIDENT EMBROILED IN $8.5 MILLION MEDICARE FRAUD SCHEME
Emilio Haber, 53, owner of Detroit-area health care clinic Ritecare LLC, was sentenced to 60 months in prison for his leading role in an $8.5 million Medicare fraud scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.
On Oct. 26, 2011, Haber pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. According to plea documents, Haber conceived and oversaw fraud schemes at two clinics, Ritecare LLC and CompleteHealth LLC.
Haber incorporated and opened Ritecare and CompleteHealth in the state of Michigan in 2007. CompleteHealth merged into Ritecare in July 2008.
According to court documents, while operating CompleteHealth and Ritecare, Haber and his co-conspirators billed Medicare for medically unnecessary tests and services, including nerve conduction studies.
Haber obtained patients for the clinics through the payment of kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries and patient recruiters. He admitted that he and other co-conspirators paid patient recruiters $100-$150 per patient obtained, with $50-$75 to go to the patient in exchange for visiting Ritecare and subjecting themselves to medically unnecessary tests.
The kickbacks paid to the recruiters and the patients were contingent upon the Medicare beneficiaries identifying the symptoms necessary to justify medically unnecessary tests.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that between approximately August 2007 and approximately October 2009, Haber and his co-conspirators at CompleteHealth and Ritecare submitted and/or caused to be submitted approximately $8.5 million in fraudulent claims to the Medicare program for medical and testing services that were medically unnecessary and procured through the payment of kickbacks.
Miami-area resident Emilio Haber, 53, was sentenced to 60 months in prison for his leading role in an $8.5 million Medicare fraud scheme.
In addition to his prison term, Haber was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $6,341,000 in restitution, joint and several with his co-defendants, and was ordered to forfeit approximately $99,000 seized from bank accounts he controlled.
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Key Facts
- State: Michigan
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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