Miami Beach Police Captain Arrested For Racketeering Charges

Miami Beach Police Captain Arrested Racketeering Charges by cbs4price

MIAMI BEACH (CBS4) - The son of a well-known Miami Beach official has been arrested on several charges, fraud and racketeering.

George Navarro Jr., a Miami Beach Police officer, was arrested Wednesday and has already bonded out of jail.

According to an arrest search, Navarro, 26, faces one count each of Racketeering, Conspiracy, Organized Fraud, and Official Misconduct. He also faces two counts each of Unlawful Subleasing of a Vehicle, Vehicle Obtained by Trick, and False Statement of Financial Condition/Identity.

His father, George Navarro Sr., was the MBPD lead homicide detective in the infamous 1997 shooting death of designer Gianni Versace at his mansion on Ocean Drive. He also investigated the suicide death of Versace's assailant Andrew Cunanan. Navarro Sr. now works as a city in another capacity

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/09/05/son-of-fmr-miami-beach-police-captain-arrested-racketeering-charges/

Miami-Area Psychiatrist Pleads Guilty For Role In $200 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

U.S. Department of Justice

June 30,  2011

WASHINGTON – A Miami-area psychiatrist pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Miami for his part in a fraud scheme that resulted in the submission of more than $200 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, the Department of Justice, FBI and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced.
Dr. Alan Gumer, 64, of Tamarac, Fla., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.   Gumer was charged on Feb. 15, 2011, with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and four counts of health care fraud.
According to court documents, Gumer was a psychiatrist at American Therapeutic Corporation (ATC), a Florida corporation headquartered in Miami.   ATC purported to operate partial hospitalization programs (PHPs) in seven different locations throughout South Florida and Orlando.  A PHP is a form of intensive treatment for severe mental illness.

Gumer admitted that he signed evaluations, notes and other documents in medical files for patients who did not need the treatment for which ATC billed Medicare.   Specifically, as a psychiatrist, Gumer knew that the patients attending ATC did not need intensive mental health treatment, and that the treatments offered by ATC were not the type of intensive treatments a PHP should provide.   Gumer admitted that he signed these files without examining the patients, or writing and reading the statements he was signing.   Gumer also admitted to writing prescriptions for psychiatric medications for patients who did not need them in order to make it appear to Medicare that the patients qualified for PHP treatment.   According to court documents, Gumer also referred hundreds of ATC patients to a related company, the American Sleep Institute (ASI), for unnecessary diagnostic sleep disorder testing.

According to court filings, Gumer’s co-defendants and ATC’s owners and operators paid kickbacks to owners and operators of assisted living facilities (ALFs) and halfway houses and to patient brokers in exchange for delivering ineligible patients to ATC and ASI.  In some cases, the patients received a portion of those kickbacks.  Throughout the course of the ATC and ASI conspiracy, millions of dollars in kickbacks were paid in exchange for Medicare beneficiaries, who did not qualify for PHP services, to attend treatment programs that were not legitimate PHP programs so that ATC and ASI could bill Medicare for more than $200 million in medically unnecessary services.

According to the plea agreement, Gumer’s participation in the fraud resulted in $19.3 million in fraudulent billing to the Medicare program.   Sentencing for Gumer is scheduled for Jan 19, 2012.  Gumer faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
ATC, its management company Medlink Professional Management Group Inc., and the owners and lead manager of ATC, Medlink and ASI, were charged with various health care fraud, money laundering and other offenses in a separate superseding indictment unsealed on Feb. 15, 2011.   Two of the three owners and the lead manager, as well as both ATC and Medlink, have pleaded guilty and have admitted to the fraudulent scheme and that more than $200 million in billings were submitted to the Medicare program as a part of the scheme.   They are scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 14, 2011, by U.S. District Court Judge James Lawrence King.   The trial of the third owner charged in the separate superseding indictment is scheduled to begin on Aug. 15, 2011.
The remaining 17 co-defendants named in the indictment in which Gumer was charged are scheduled to stand trial on Nov. 7, 2011, before U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz.


Judge James Lawrence King.

 An indictment is merely an accusation and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Today’s guilty plea was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida; John V. Gillies, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Miami field office; and Special Agent-in-Charge Christopher Dennis of the HHS Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigations Miami office.
The criminal case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Jennifer L. Saulino of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.  The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.



Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer



Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,000 defendants that collectively have billed the Medicare program for more than $2.3 billion.  In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/June/11-crm-871.html
To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to:  www.stopmedicarefraud.gov .



http://www.cchrint.org/2011/07/01/miami-area-psychiatrist-pleads-guilty-for-role-in-200-million-medicare-fraud-scheme/

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi Overlooking Political Corruption Fraud at State University System?



Pam Bondi



Florida AG Overlooking Political Corruption, Fraud at State University System?

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is joining her Kentucky colleague Jack Conway in waging a war on for-profit colleges -- with taxpayer funds -- while turning a blind eye to problems in non-profit and state schools. Except, in Bondi's case, there are demonstrable instances of mismanagement, fraud, and abuse in those taxpayer-funded colleges that she appears to be ignoring for the time being.

A few examples of taxpayer waste that Bondi should be focusing on:



Jack Conway



State-funded Daytona State College, Florida A&M University, Edison State College, and Miami-Dade College all currently face losing their accreditation due to issues ranging from low performance standards to admitting students without required courses to employing too few professors.

• Florida’s biggest state universities are under fire for rampant abuses within their athletic programs. Numerous Florida State University athletic teams have been forced to vacate wins due to academic misconduct, while University of Miami athletes have been discovered accepting illegal gifts and money. The University of Central Florida is also under investigation for recruiting misconduct.
• The Florida state college corruption extends all the way up to state elected officials; former Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom came under fire for securing funding for a building at Northwest Florida State College that was in fact an airport hangar for political donors’ private jets.

Sounds like enough material for some high-profile state investigations, right? Actually, Attorney General Bondi is focusing her government investigation on a handful of small, for-profit schools. The charges against the schools largely revolve around allegedly false claims used by recruiters leading to enrollment of students who were under-qualified and/or unable to repay their loans upon completion.
Could it be that Bondi and others, including federal regulators, are attacking for-profit colleges chiefly because they have taken a piece of the higher education pie in recent years that was traditionally serviced by state-run community colleges and vocational schools? The fervor with which state officials in Florida, Kentucky, Texas, and other states are going after for-profit schools suggests motivation beyond the desire to prevent a few gullible students from falling for glitzy ad campaigns.
At the federal level, the Department of Education’s proposed ‘Gainful Employment’ rule would create new narrow metrics to define “gainful employment” based on student debt-to-income levels and loan repayment rates.

What the DOE’s formulaic approach is missing is that these institutions serve student communities with significant risk factors such as low incomes, full-time employment, and delayed enrollment which adversely impact degree attainment and account for their having a higher loan default rate than less inclusive institutions. Even with these challenges, the fact remains that for-profit colleges have a better record of graduating low-income and minority populations than public institutions and private, not-for-profit schools, at a substantially lower total government and taxpayer cost.
BIG GOVERNMENT

http://www.careercollegecentral.com/news/Florida_AG_Overlooking_Political_Corruption,_Fraud_at_State_University_System%3F

Rick Scott Was Warned That Columbia/HCA Practices Could Be illegal

He knew: Scott was warned that Columbia/HCA practices could be illegal **UPDATE: Team Sink responds

 

Rick Scott says he would have put a stop to the record Medicare (plus TRICARE and Medicaid) fraud committed by his company, Columbia/HCA, had he been aware of it. Well, about that not being aware…
From the Times/Herald Sunday:

Rick Scott has said he would have immediately stopped his former hospital company from committing Medicare fraud — if only “somebody told me something was wrong.”
But he was cautioned year after year that the financial incentives Columbia/HCA offered doctors could run afoul of a federal antikickback law that seeks to limit conflicts of interest in Medicare and Medicaid.
They were contained in the company’s annual public reports to stockholders that Scott, now the Republican candidate for Florida governor, signed as Columbia/HCA’s president and chief executive officer.

The reports said the company believed it was complying with the spirit of the law. But as far back as 1994 — three years before the FBI began scrutinizing the company — Columbia/HCA acknowledged that it might not be following the letter of complex health care rules.

“Certain of the Company’s current arrangements with physicians … risk scrutiny” from investigators and “may be subject to enforcement action,” the 1994 report said — a precaution echoed over the years in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Scott today says he doesn’t remember the reports he signed, but that the warning language sounded like “boilerplate, written by SEC lawyers just to cover all bases.” Indeed, the precautions mirrored those issued by some other health care companies.

Sort of like Scott doesn’t remember whether he wrote a six-figure check to cover the discrepancy between what’s in his campaign account, and what the Scott-Carroll campaign just spent buying TV ads …
Read the entire SPT/Herald article here. Meanwhile, Michael Bender, now with the Palm Beach Post, digs into Scott’s new company, Solantic.

UPDATE: The Alex Sink campaign issued this lengthy response to the Times/Herald story Sunday:

Tampa, FL – The Times/Herald reported today that during his tenure as hospital CEO , disgraced executive Rick Scott was repeatedly warned of possible illegal practices at his hospitals — and even signed yearly reports acknowledging kickback schemes.  While Scott claims he would have stopped the massive, systemic fraud if he had known about it, these new documents taken with the Department of Justice case show Scott was keenly aware and deeply involved.  This breaking news is just the latest example of how much Rick Scott is hiding from the people of Florida.
“Year after year Rick Scott signed documents acknowledging the misdeeds of his company, removing any last shred of credibility  he had in his weak attempts to defend the illegal misconduct he oversaw at his hospitals,” said Kyra Jennings, spokesperson for Alex Sink for Governor.  “Floridians deserve better than a Governor who chooses to ignore warnings that he might be breaking the law, turned a blind eye to illegal kickbacks, and used legal maneuvering to avoid being questioned by the FBI.  This latest information about Rick Scott’s connections to the historic, systemic, fraud happening at his company for years shows once again just how much he is hiding his record from the people of Florida.”

According to the Times/Herald, Scott signed repeated SEC filings in which he was warned that physician referrals his hospitals compensated doctors for might be breaking the law, and that this was part of Scott’s “business strategy.”  Even though Scott signed the forms, he says he does not remember signing them or being warned that he might be breaking the law.  The breaking story also reports that Rick Scott was scheduled to be questioned by the Department of Justice.

“Floridians can just add this to the laundry list of critical information about his record and past that Rick Scott is hiding from Floridians,” Jennings continued.  “From refusing to release the deposition with his new health care company he gave just six days before running for governor, to avoiding making his tax returns public, to ducking debates, Rick Scott is trying to keep Floridians from learning one basic truth: Rick Scott is clearly disqualified to be Florida’s next Governor.”

SCOTT’S LIES DON’T MATCH REALITY:

Rick Scott Lie #1:
“Rick Scott has said he would have immediately stopped his former hospital company from committing Medicare fraud — if only ‘somebody told me something was wrong.’”
Rick Scott Reality:

“But he was cautioned year after year that the financial incentives Columbia/HCA offered doctors could run afoul of a federal anti-kickback law that seeks to limit conflicts of interest in Medicare and Medicaid.  The warnings were contained in the company’s annual public reports to stockholders that Scott, now the Republican candidate for Florida governor, signed (emphasis added) as Columbia/HCA’s president and chief executive officer…Scott today says he doesn’t remember the reports he signed.”

Rick Scott Lie #2:

“Scott says he didn’t do anything wrong and wanted to fight the charges long before the hospital board settled the case without trial. ‘I believed we were doing the right things,’ he said, though Scott has acknowledged he was focused more on buying hospitals and performance than compliance.”

Rick Scott Reality:
“Federal investigators also said Scott knew about the doctor payments, court records show. In its lawsuit, the Justice Department said Scott personally told doctors that their payments from the company would increase with the number of patient referrals. Scott and other executives paid as much as $5,000 to doctors to cover their investments with Columbia — loans never repaid by doctors, the suit says.”
Rick Scott Lie #3:

“Scott has said that he was never interviewed by the FBI, nor was he criminally charged.”

Rick Scott Reality:

“Yet Scott was scheduled to be interviewed by investigators, according to media reports at the time. During a July 27, 2000, deposition in a civil lawsuit involving an unrelated contract dispute, Scott refused to answer questions by invoking his right to Fifth Amendment protection from self-incrimination 75 times – a maneuver that can only be legally applied when the witness suspects he is the target of criminal investigation. (emphasis added)”

Rick Scott Lie #4:
“In June, [Scott] told a Herald/Times reporter that he never met with Jerre Frazier, a company attorney, who said he warned Scott of potential ‘compliance issues.’ ‘I don’t believe that ever happened,’ Scott said. ‘If somebody told me something was wrong, I would have done everything to fix it.’”

Rick Scott Reality:
“Frazier insists the meeting took place, albeit toward the end of Scott’s reign at HCA.”