Federal officials announced today that they have bagged one of the Medicare program’s most wanted criminals, Enrique Gonzalez, who is believed to have defrauded the federal health program of more than $26 million.
Gonzalez fled the country after being indicted on multiple claims related to more than $26 million in fraudulent bills submitted to Medicare. He was indicted along with co-conspirator Ronald Harris and three other men – Carlos, Luis and Jose Benitez – on the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector-General’s (HHS IG) Most Wanted Fugitives List.
| ‘Gonzalez fled the country after being indicted on multiple claims related to more than $26 million in fraudulent bills submitted to Medicare.’ |
“Gonzalez was the director of Physicians Med-Care and Physicians Health Med-Care, two Florida-based medical clinics that allegedly provided infusion therapy for HIV patients. Harris was a Miami physician who worked for the clinics as the medical director and whose identifying information was allegedly used to bill Medicare for services,” the HHS IG said in a statement announcing that Gonzalez had been returned to the U.S. this morning from Peru.
“Gonzalez provided cash to his co-conspirators for the purpose of paying kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries. In return, the beneficiaries signed documents stating that they received treatments at the clinics, even though the treatments were not provided or were not necessary. The clinics then billed Medicare for these treatments. Investigators believe that after receiving payments from Medicare, Gonzalez and his co-conspirators transferred approximately $3.4 million to sham management, marketing, and investment companies owned and operated by their co-conspirators,” the statement said.
Besides the fraudulent Medicare billings, Gonzalez is also charged with lying to federal officials investigating the scheme. Harris, Gonzalez’ co-conspirator, was found guilty in November 2008 and sentenced to 84 months in prison. He was also ordered to pay $9.8 million in restitution.
