Miami-Dade fraud schemes end with jail and $83.7m in restitution
Staff Writer |
A Miami-Dade psychiatrist was sentenced for participating in various schemes to defraud Medicare, Medicaid, the U.S. Social Security Administration, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
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Attorney General Pam Bondi, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and additional federal partners announced the sentencing.
Fernando Mendez Villamil of South Miami is sentenced to more than 12 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
Villamil previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and make false statements with respect to immigration matters and conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims.
As a result of the fraudulent scheme, various governmental programs run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Florida Medicaid program, the SSA and USCIS sustained a combined loss more than $62.8 million.
Villamil, a licensed psychiatrist with a medical office in Miami-Dade, provided fraudulent mental health diagnoses to thousands of individuals seeking to obtain disability benefits and waivers from the civic and language requirements of the U.S. citizenship and naturalization process.
Villamil provided these false diagnoses in exchange for bribes and kickback payments and the ability to submit false claims to Medicare and Medicaid for medication management visits not needed and not provided.
Villamil also issued prescriptions for medications in order to support a false disability claim and cause Medicare and Medicaid to pay for unnecessary medications.
The Honorable Frederico A. Moreno, a U.S. District Judge, sentenced Villamil. The court also ordered Villamil to pay more than $50 million in restitution.
Three co-conspirators of Villamil previously pled guilty in connection to this case.
Maritza Exposito, of Miami, is sentenced to four years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay more than $33 million in restitution.
Yomara Vila, of Miami, is sentenced to more than two and a half years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay more than $500,000 in restitution.
Arnaldo Jimenez, of Hialeah, is sentenced to six months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay more than $200,000 in restitution. ■
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