Miami Clinic Owner Pleads Guilty in $5 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; Christopher B. Dennis, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigation; and Mark Overton, Chief, City of Hialeah Police Department, announce that defendant Ramon Moreira, 82, of Miami-Dade County, pled guilty today to one count of health care fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1347. Sentencing has been scheduled for May 17, 2011, before U.S. District Judge Richard W. Goldberg.

According to court records, the fraud involved false billing of durable medical equipment to the Medicare Program. In March 2007, Moreira became the president of J&G Health Care, Inc., a Miami-Dade County DME company. From February 27, 2007 to May 16, 2007, Moreira caused J&G to submit more than $5 million in false claims to Medicare for, among other items, urinary leg bags. Medicare paid approximately $1 million on these false billings.

Moreira was indicted in 2007 and subsequently fled the United States upon learning of the health care fraud charges. He was found attempting to re-enter the United States at the Port of Miami in late 2010 and was taken into custody.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI, HHS-OIG, and the Hialeah Police Department, as well as the South Florida Medicare Fraud Strike Force. Since their inception in March 2007, Strike Force operations in seven districts have obtained indictments of more than 560 individuals who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $1.2 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers. To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney’s Randy Katz and H. Ron Davidson.

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 http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.