Health Care: Medicare Fraudster Sentenced

A convicted Medicare fraud schemer received a sentence of more than 12 years in federal prison. Daniel Martinez had pleaded guilty in federal court in Miami to charges of health care fraud and money laundering.

Martinez was the leader of a conspiracy that cheated Medicare out of more than $20 million. The defendant had operated a Hialeah, Florida, company named Med-Pro of Miami. The company claimed to be a provider of durable medical equipment to patients in Florida. However, the scheme involved the billing of Medicare for services without actually providing those services. Med-Pro would bill Medicare for providing equipment that was not provided to patients nor even prescribed by physicians. After receiving the Medicare payments, the schemers laundered the checks through individuals whose role was to cash the checks for a portion of the proceeds and return the remaining cash to the schemers.

Martinez received a sentence of 150 months in prison, followed by 18 months of house arrest. For federal crimes the United States employs determinate sentencing without parole. Thus, Martinez must serve at least 85% of his sentence or more than 10 years in prison. In addition, the court ordered the forfeiture of property derived from the crime.

For an article about the sentencing, please see the following article from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/sfl-medicare-fraud-b092909,0,4607301.story