A Miami-area pharmacy owner has been caught in a massive Medicare scam, admitting to submitting over $1.8 million in false claims to the program.
Evelio Fernandez Penaranda, 47, pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud in the Southern District of Florida on October 8, 2015.
Penaranda owned Naranja Pharmacy Inc. and admitted to using the unique identifying information of Medicare beneficiaries and doctors without their consent to submit false claims for prescription drugs.
According to his guilty plea, Penaranda controlled Naranja Pharmacy’s bank accounts and transferred the payments received from Medicare to himself and his accomplices.
The scheme, which took place between May 2013 and March 2014, resulted in Medicare paying out 100% of the false claims, totaling over $1.8 million.
The case is being investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force.
Sentencing has been scheduled for October 8, 2015.
The Medicare Fraud Strike Force has charged over 2,300 defendants who collectively have billed the Medicare program for over $7 billion since its inception in March 2007.
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Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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