MIAMI DEFENDANTS SENTENCED ON HEALTH CARE FRAUD AND STRUCTURING CHARGES

September 7, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Michael E. Yasofsky, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, announced that defendants Maricel Li and Marta Perez, both residents of Miami, were sentenced on Friday, August 31, 2007 by United States District Court Judge James I. Cohn in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Li was sentenced to twenty-four (24) months’ imprisonment, followed by three (3) years of supervised release. Li was also ordered to pay $556,519.85 in restitution. Perez was sentenced to five (5) months’ imprisonment, to be followed by two (2) years of supervised release. Li and Perez were ordered to surrender themselves to the Bureau of Prisons by February 29, 2008 to begin serving their sentence.

Both defendants had previously pled guilty. Defendant Li had pled guilty to an Information charging her with conspiracy to commit health care fraud violations and conspiracy to commit structuring violations. Defendant Perez had pled guilty to conspiracy to structure financial transactions.

According to court documents, in the one-year period between April 22, 2002 and April 30, 2003, Health Medical Services of South Florida (“Health Medical”), a durable medical equipment company located at 10637 Southwest 88th Street, in Miami, Florida, submitted approximately $1.6 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare. These claims sought reimbursement for the cost of durable medical equipment that was not provided, was not provided as claimed, or was not medically necessary. Durable medical equipment (DME) is equipment that is designed for repeated use and for a medical purpose and includes items like prosthetic limbs, back braces, knee braces and wheelchairs.

Perez was the nominee owner of the company and Li managed the day to day operations of Health Medical. The actual owners of Health Medical were Rita Cardoso and her husband Luis Delgado of Miami. Cardoso and Delgado were the owners and operators of several health care related businesses located in Miami-Dade County and were previously sentenced for defrauding the Medicare Program of more than $4 million dollars for fraudulent billings for durable medical equipment.

During the conspiracy, members of the conspiracy fabricated or caused the fabrication of prescriptions stating that the patients were in medical need of specific durable medical equipment. In fact, however, these patients did not need this equipment. Instead, patients’ signatures were forged. As well, fraudulent prescriptions were purchased from patient brokers, who sold information on Medicare patients.

As a result of the fraud, Medicare paid approximately $556,519.85 to Health Medical. These Medicare payments were deposited into Health Medical’s bank accounts. The defendants then withdrew this money from the Health Medical accounts using checks in amounts under $10,000 in order to avoid bank reporting requirements and the filing of a currency transaction report (CTR). A CTR is a report prepared and filed by a bank or other financial institution with Treasury for each financial transaction of more than $10,000. Such transactions include deposits, withdrawals, exchanges of currency, or other payments or transfers by, through, or to the bank or other financial institution.

Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lois Foster-Steers.

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.