Harold Sio, HIV-Infusion Scam, Florida 2006

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Florida Man Pleads Guilty to HIV-Infusion Scam

A Miami man has pleaded guilty to participating in a massive $5.3 million HIV-infusion scam, targeting Medicare recipients.

Harold Sio, 33, owner and operator of HME Solutions Inc., dba Lifecare Medical, admitted to conspiring with Juan A. Marrero and Orlando Pascual Jr. to commit healthcare fraud and launder the proceeds. Sio supplied pharmaceuticals to Marrero and Pascual, who operated Medcore Group LLC, for the purpose of committing Medicare fraud.

Between August 2004 and November 2006, Sio and his co-conspirators falsely billed Medicare for unnecessary infusion treatments. Patients were paid cash kickbacks to visit the clinic, and clinic employees manipulated patients’ blood samples to make their need for treatment appear legitimate.

Marrero and Pascual, who pleaded guilty in January 2009, will be sentenced on April 3, 2009. Sio is scheduled to be sentenced on March 24, 2009. Four co-defendants in the case are set to go to trial on February 23, 2009.

The case was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which has indicted 106 cases with 190 defendants in both Los Angeles and Miami since its inception. Collectively, these defendants have fraudulently billed the Medicare program for over half a billion dollars.

The Medicare Fraud Strike Force is a partnership between federal prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to combat Medicare fraud. The case was prosecuted by Deputy Chief Kirk Ogrosky, Assistant Chief John S. (Jay) Darden, and Trial Attorney Charles Reed of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta of the Southern District of Florida supervised the case, which was investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General and FBI. The investigation and prosecution of Medicare fraud cases is a top priority for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

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