Miami patient broker Jean-Luc Veraguas, 51, of Plantation, Fla., was sentenced to 18 months in prison for recruiting Medicare beneficiaries as part of a $200 million Medicare fraud scheme.
Veraguas pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud on May 30, 2012, and admitted to serving as a patient broker for American Therapeutic Corporation (ATC) and other health care agencies.
As part of the scheme, Veraguas recruited patients to attend ATC’s PHP program in exchange for illegal kickbacks. He admitted to causing $3.8 million in fraudulent bills to Medicare, knowing many of the individuals he recruited did not need the treatment they purported to have received.
ATC’s owners and operators paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to owners and operators of assisted living facilities and halfway houses and to patient brokers in exchange for delivering ineligible patients to ATC. Co-conspirators fabricated documents in patient files to hide the fact that the patients did not qualify for treatment.
Veraguas was ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution, jointly and severally with other co-conspirators. The sentence was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida; Jeffrey C. Mazanec, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Miami Field Office; and Special Agent-in-Charge Christopher Dennis of the HHS Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigations Miami office.
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, investigated the case and charged more than 1,330 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $4 billion since its inception in March 2007.
The Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) is working to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers. To learn more about HEAT, go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.
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Related Federal Cases
- Three Patient Recruiters Sentenced in $20 Million Miami Health Care Fraud Scheme · Maryland
- Surrogacy Group Boss Blosser Hits with Federal Wire Fraud Charges · North Carolina
- Gregory Ray Blosser Charged in Surrogacy Fee Fraud Scheme · Maryland
- Seth Rehfuss Gets 50 Months for Medicare Swindle · Mississippi
- Virginia Man Gets 19 Months in Medicare Swindle · Mississippi
Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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