Broward County Man Sentenced to More Than 12 Years for Medical Equipment and Money Laundering Scam

Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Michael J. Folmar, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that defendant Daniel Martinez, of Davie, Florida, was sentenced for his participation in a $20 million health care fraud and money laundering scheme. U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck sentenced Martinez to a total of a 150 months' imprisonment followed by an additional 18 months of home confinement.

In July 2009, Martinez pled guilty to an Indictment charging him with related health care fraud and money laundering counts. The FBI investigation established that Martinez conspired with Jimmy A. Soto, Leonardo Lozada, Eliades Diaz, and Jose D. Claro to defraud Medicare through the fraudulent submission of $5.4 million in durable medical equipment (DME) claims during 2005 and 2006. The claims concerned a Hialeah-based DME company operating as Med-Pro of Miami, Inc ("Med-Pro"). Medicare paid Med-Pro approximately $1.3 million based on the false claims, which were for DME items that were neither prescribed by doctors nor delivered to Medicare patients, most of whom resided in the Treasure Coast area of Florida. After receiving the Medicare payments, Martinez used Soto and Diaz to recruit a series of check cashers who then laundered the stolen cash.

During 2004 through 2007, Martinez also admitted operating five other Miami-area DME companies that submitted an additional $17 million in false claims to Medicare. Martinez unsuccessfully attempted to hide his ownership interest in these companies by placing them in the names of others, including relatives and friends. Martinez used the money to live an affluent lifestyle acquiring houses, cars and ten Rolexes watches worth an estimated $250,000. Judge Huck ordered these items forfeited along with millions in restitution payments to Medicare.

The case came to the attention of the FBI's Fort Pierce Resident Agency after numerous Treasure Coast residents contacted that FBI office to complain about Med-Pro's submission of fraudulent claims to Medicare.

In early 2009, Judge Cecilia Altonaga sentenced Soto to a 140-month sentence after he was convicted at trial in United States v. Jimmy A Soto, 08-20420-CR-Altonaga. Diaz was sentenced to 80 months in prison; Lozada was sentenced to 46 months in prison; and Claro was sentenced to 31 months in prison.

Acting U.S. Attorney Jeffrey H. Sloman commended the investigative efforts of the FBI. The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney William J. Parente, Jr.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.