Press Release
MIAMI DOCTOR CHARGED IN $7 MILLION INFUSION THERAPY CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD MEDICARE
June 1, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Alice Fisher, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, announced today the filing of an Information charging defendant Dr. Orestes Alvarez-Jacinto with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349, and criminal forfeiture, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 982, stemming from Alvarez-Jacinto's role in causing the submission to Medicare of over $7 million worth of fraudulent medical bills.
As charged, from June 2003 until November 2003, Alvarez-Jacinto was employed as medical director at Saint Jude Rehab Center, Inc., a medical clinic that purported to specialize in treating patients with HIV. During that period, Alvarez-Jacinto authorized and approved the use of the drug WinRho, along with a mix of various vitamin supplements, for each HIV patient he was seeing, knowing that the HIV patients did not need WinRho and that the drug could actually harm them. In total, Alvarez-Jacinto approved over $7 million worth of fraudulent medical bills, which were submitted to Medicare for payment, and the Medicare Program paid approximately $5 million worth of those fraudulent bills to Saint Jude, at Alvarez-Jacinto's direction. Alvarez-Jacinto was paid approximately $90,000 for his role in approving the fraudulent bills.
Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division. The case is being prosecuted by Fraud Section Deputy Chief Kirk Ogrosky and Trial Attorney Hank Bond Walther.
Attachments:
Information (PDF)
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 http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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