Press Release
DOCTOR SENTENCED IN MEDICARE FRAUD SCHEME
June 28, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Alice S. Fisher, Assistant Attorney General, United States Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Melody Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Miami Field Office, and Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, announced today's sentencing of defendant Julian Torres, M.D., for his role in a scheme to defraud Medicare of $1.3 million.
United States District Court Judge Fedrico A. Moreno sentenced defendant Julian Torres earlier today to 36 months' imprisonment for defrauding Medicare. He was also ordered to pay $1,360,000 in restitution and to serve three (3) years of supervised release upon his release for prison.
According to court documents, from August 2003 through June 2005, Julian Torres, M.D., sold false prescriptions for $50 each to Marcos Martinez and Elsa Dominguez. Martinez and Dominguez paid Medicare beneficiaries in Miami to gain access to their Medicare information. Thereafter, Martinez and Dominguez would refer the patients to Torres, who would write prescriptions for medically unnecessary medical equipment. In court filings, Torres acknowledged selling approximately 800 false prescriptions and receiving approximately $40,000 in kickbacks.
As part of the scheme, Torres would sign the false prescriptions and Martinez's company would submit false claims to Medicare seeking reimbursement for items prescribed. According to the testimony of Martinez, the Medicare beneficiaries were paid $100-$350 a month to participate in the scheme. Last month, Judge Moreno sentenced Martinez to 63 months' imprisonment.
Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Deputy Chief Kirk Ogrosky, and Trial Attorneys Jeffrey A. Neiman and Robert DeConti, of the Fraud Section of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
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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