Healthcare Fraud

Healthcare Fraud: Pilar Garcia Lorenzo Convicted Late to Commit Health Care Fraud and Wire Fraud, Money Laundering

<h2>Owner of Florida Home Health Agency Convicted in Multimillion-Dollar Health Care Fraud Scheme<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>The owner of a Tampa&comma; Florida&comma; home health agency was convicted by a federal jury for her participation in a multimillion-dollar health care fraud and money laundering scheme&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Assistant Attorney General Leslie R&period; Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division&comma; U&period;S&period; Attorney A&period; Lee Bentley III of the Middle District of Florida&comma; Special Agent in Charge Shimon R&period; Richmond of the U&period;S&period; Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General’s &lpar;HHS-OIG&rpar; Miami Regional Office and Special Agent in Charge Paul Wysopal of the FBI’s Tampa Field Office made the announcement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Pilar Garcia Lorenzo &lpar;Garcia&rpar;&comma; 38&comma; of Tampa&comma; the owner of Gold Care Home Health Services Inc&period; &lpar;Gold Care&rpar;&comma; was convicted late yesterday of one count each of conspiracy to commit<strong> health care fraud<&sol;strong> and <strong>wire fraud<&sol;strong>&comma; conspiracy to commit<em> money laundering<&sol;em> and <strong>money laundering<&sol;strong> following a jury trial before U&period;S&period; District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell of the Middle District of Florida&period;  Sentencing has been scheduled for Jan&period; 5&comma; 2017&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to evidence presented at trial&comma; in late summer 2014 Gold Care submitted millions of dollars’ worth of false and fraudulent claims to <strong>Medicare<&sol;strong>&period;  The claims were for home health services that had never been provided and had not been legitimately prescribed by a physician&period;  As a result of those false and fraudulent claims&comma; <em>Medicare<&sol;em> reimbursed Gold Care approximately &dollar;2&period;5 million&period;  Garcia used a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;straw” or nominee owner in an effort to execute and conceal the fraudulent scheme&comma; the evidence showed&period;  Approximately &dollar;2 million of the <strong>fraud<&sol;strong> proceeds her company received were laundered in cash transactions through fictitious shell companies located in Hialeah&comma; Florida&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>HHS-OIG and FBI investigated the case&comma; which was brought as part of the <em>Medicare Fraud Strike Force<&sol;em>&comma; under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and U&period;S&period; Attorney’s Office of the Middle District of Florida&period;  This case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Christopher J&period; Hunter and Trial Attorney Angela Adams of the Fraud Section&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Since its inception in March 2007&comma; the Medicare Fraud Strike Force&comma; now operating in nine cities across the country&comma; has charged over 2&comma;900 defendants who collectively have billed the Medicare program for over &dollar;10 billion&period;  In addition&comma; the HHS Centers for Medicare &amp&semi; Medicaid Services&comma; working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG&comma; are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team &lpar;HEAT&rpar;&comma; go to<a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;stopmedicarefraud&period;gov&sol;">www&period;stopmedicarefraud&period;gov<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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