Medicare fraud: Florida hands down prison sentence
Medicare scheme defrauded program of $200 million through fake entities and money laundering. So far, 10 people have pleaded guilty or been convicted in the Medicare fraud.
A closed American Therapeutic Corp. office in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is shown in October after federal authorities charged the company with Medicare fraud. On Wednesday, a federal judge sentenced one employee to three years for money-laundering.
J Pat Carter/AP/File
MIAMI
Another person in South Florida has been handed a prison sentence in a $200 million Medicare fraud scheme.
A federal judge on Wednesday imposed a nearly three-year sentence on 40-year-old Adriana Mejia. She had pleaded guilty in July to a money-laundering conspiracy charge.
Prosecutors say she created fake entities and falsified bank records to launder money for American Therapeutic Corp. of Miami and its owners and operators.
ATC and many of its top executives have admitted billing Medicare for medically unnecessary services, paying kickbacks to businesses that delivered patients and other illegal acts.
So far the companies and 10 individual defendants have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial. Others are set for trial in April in Miami federal court.