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Healthcare Fraudster Pleads Guilty in Miami
A former patient recruiter has pleaded guilty in Miami, Florida, for his role in a massive $205 million Medicare fraud scheme.
Michael Mendoza, 45, of Miami, Florida, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman in the Southern District of Florida to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.
According to court documents, during the course of the conspiracy, Mendoza was the president of Network Resource Consultant Inc., a Florida corporation, and he served as a patient recruiter for American Therapeutic Corporation (ATC), a defunct partial hospitalization program located in Miami that purported to provide intensive psychiatric services.
Mendoza made an agreement with Larry Duran, the owner of ATC, and others to refer residents living in assisted living facilities throughout the Southern District of Florida to ATC in exchange for illegal healthcare kickbacks.
Throughout the course of the ATC conspiracy, millions of dollars in kickbacks were paid in exchange for Medicare beneficiaries, who did not qualify for PHP services, to attend treatment programs that were not legitimate PHP programs so that ATC and related companies could bill Medicare for more than $205 million in medically unnecessary services.
Larry Duran pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve 50 years in prison for his role in orchestrating the fraud scheme.
This case is being investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Michael Mendoza is scheduled to be sentenced on August 28, 2014.
The Medicare Fraud Strike Force, operating in nine cities across the country, has charged nearly 1,900 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $6 billion.
To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), visit www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.
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Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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