The United States Attorney's OfficeSouthern District of FloridaPublic Affairs Office: Alicia Valle Yovanny Lopez Public Affairs Fax Press ReleaseTWO MEN SENTENCED IN MEDICARE FRAUD SCHEME April 3, 2008 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, announced today that on April 2, 2008 the Honorable Adalberto Jordan sentenced defendant Michael Labrada, 27, of Miami to a 97 month prison term and Miguel Castillo, 42, of Miami, to a 57 month prison term for their participation in a multi-million dollar health care fraud and money laundering scheme. Labrada was sentenced in connection with two criminal cases. In the first case, Labrada was convicted of conspiring with Angel Castillo, Jr. to commit health care fraud by serving as a straw owner of a medical equipment company known as JJ & D Medical Equipment, Inc. The company submitted more than $6.8 million dollars in bogus claims and received approximately $1.6 million in payments. In the second case, Labrada was convicted of money laundering charges in connection with a $2.3 million laundering scheme orchestrated by his co-defendant, Angel Castillo, Jr. Miguel Castillo was also convicted of related health care fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges. In addition to serving as a straw owner of a medical equipment company, Miguel Castillo collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraud proceeds from check cashers at the direction of his cousin and co-conspirator, Angel Castillo, Jr. Last month, Angel Castillo, Jr. was sentenced to a 235 month term in connection with his ownership of more than eight durable medical equipment companies in Miami during 2005 and 2006. The companies collectively submitted in excess of $48,000,000 in false claims by way of two Miami based medical billing companies. In reality, the companies never provided any Medicare patients with any type of equipment or service. Angel Castillo Jr. used a series of straw owners to conduct banking transactions and conceal his ownership of the companies. After receiving more than $7,000,000 from the Medicare program, Angel Castillo, Jr. then laundered the proceeds of the scheme by using friends, family and other associates, including various bank employees, to cash hundreds of checks. In some cases, Castillo’s associates needed duffel bags to carry the cash out of local banks. Co-conspirators, Giovanni Guerrero, Javier Roberto More, Angel Hernandez, Juan A. Zaragoza have all pled guilty to related health care fraud and money laundering offenses in the past months. The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney William J. Parente Jr. of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 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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