A “billboard” on a street in Washington DC advocates “Medicare for all” – Photo: OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP/Getty Images.
MIAMI – A mother and her daughter were accused of bribery and fraud of more than $12 million through false claims to the public health system (Medicare) through the pharmacy owned by him in South Florida (USA), the Federal Prosecutor’s Office for the Southern District of this state reported on Friday.
Mirosis González, 58, and her daughter Berioska Sosa, 32, were charged by a grand jury with “paying bribes” in exchange for referrals of Medicare beneficiaries to your pharmacy and then using that information to defraud millions of dollars from this federal health coverage program.
González and Sosa owned Aviva Care Pharmacy in the city of Sunrise, in Broward County, north of Miami, and, according to the indictment, from 2016 to 2020,“ paid bribes to marketing and telemedicine companies in exchange for sending Medicare beneficiaries” to their pharmacy, as well as medical prescriptions.
The “bribed companies” sent Aviva orders for expensive medical equipment and drug prescriptions “without regard to medical necessity or eligibility for reimbursement” by Medicare.
During these years, the defendants negotiated bribery agreements with companies and created bogus contracts to disguise bribes as marketing payments and other services, the Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
Also interesting: There are 36 accused of alleged health care fraud totaling $1.2 billion
According to the indictment, mother and daughter submitted more than $12 million in false claims to Medicare, claims for which Aviva received more than $8.4 million.
Mother and daughter were charged with “conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud and conspiracy to pay health care kickbacks.”