A $5.3 million HIV-infusion fraud scheme has claimed another guilty party. Harold Sio, 33, owner and operator of HME Solutions Inc., dba Lifecare Medical, a licensed pharmaceutical wholesale company in Miami, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering before U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro in Miami.
According to court documents, Sio admitted that between August 2004 and November 2006, he conspired with Juan A. Marrero and Orlando Pascual Jr., the owners of Medcore Group LLC, to commit health care fraud and launder the proceeds of that health care fraud.
Sio provided pharmaceuticals to Marrero and Pascual for the purpose of committing Medicare fraud. He also admitted to providing invoices that documented huge quantities of pharmaceuticals, which were received by Medcore, when in fact he only delivered small amounts.
Marrero and Pascual pleaded guilty in January 2009 to Medicare fraud and are scheduled for sentencing on April 3, 2009. Sio is scheduled to be sentenced on March 24, 2009.
In pleading guilty, Marrero and Pascual both admitted that they falsely billed Medicare more than $5.3 million for unnecessary infusion treatments.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy Chief Kirk Ogrosky, Assistant Chief Jay Darden, and Trial Attorney Charles Reed of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, and investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General and FBI.
The case was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta of the Southern District of Florida.
Since the inception of MFSF operations, federal prosecutors have indicted 106 cases with 190 defendants in both Los Angeles and Miami. Collectively, these defendants fraudulently billed the Medicare program for more than half a billion dollars.
Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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