Criminal Proceedings

January 29, 2019

Jennifer J. McCain-Bray, aka JJ McCain, of Las Vegas, was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison and must pay $6,715,531 for committing mail fraud and tax evasion as part of a scheme to defraud the Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD) of over $6.7 million. McCain-Bray was a purchasing analyst for the LVVWD who was responsible for transmitting orders and payments to vendors when particular products were requested from LVVWD departments and employees. Between 2007 and 2015, she falsely represented that ink and toner cartridge purchases for a New Jersey company were for the LVVWD. The New Jersey company resold the cartridges for its own profit. McCain-Bray failed to report her profits from the scheme on her personal tax returns for 2011 through 2015, underreporting her taxable income by $2,339,156 for those years. DOJ

January 29, 2019

Two doctors and a health clinic owner in the Houston area have each been sentenced to decades in prison following their convictions for Medicare fraud. In one case involving three defendants—clinic owner Ann Shepherd, doctor John Ramirez, and Yvette Nwoko—Medicare paid over $17 million in fraudulent claims resulting from false certifications related to services not medically necessary or properly provided. Defendants Shepherd was sentenced to 30 years in prison, and ordered to pay $20 million; Ramirez was sentenced to 25 years in priosn and ordered to pay $26 million; Nwoko awaits sentencing. In a second case, related case, doctor Anh Do was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay almost $2 million in restitution on similar charges. DOJ 1; DOJ 2

January 28, 2019

Norma Zayas, of Miami, was sentenced to 51 months in prison for her role in a $4.66 million health care fraud scheme involving several Miami-area home health agencies, including Sunshine Home Health Services Inc., Empire Home Health Agency Inc., Mildred & Marce Home Health Care Services Inc., and Nursing Care PRN Inc., which purported to provide home health services to Medicare patients. Zayas must also pay $4,658,241.00 in restitution and forfeit $186,650.50. Zayas admitted that from approximately January 2010 through approximately January 2014, she operated Sunshine, Empire, and Mildred & Marce Home Health and paid kickbacks to patient recruiters in return for the referral of Medicare beneficiaries, many of whom did not need or qualify for home health services. She also paid kickbacks to patient recruiters who referred Medicare beneficiaries to Nursing Care PRN. As a result of false and fraudulent claims submitted as part of this conspiracy, Medicare made payments of nearly $4.66 million. DOJ

December 21, 2018

Randall Gilbertson was sentenced to 12 years in prison following his conviction on numerous counts related to his manipulation of the stock price of Dakota Plains Holdings, Inc., a company he founded, in a reverse merger of Dakota Plains into a publicly traded shell company, Malibu Club Tan.  Gilbertson was also ordered to pay restitution of over $15 million.   USAO MN

December 19, 2018

Multiple individual defendants associated with a fraud perpetrated against Minneapolis-area Starkey Laboratories, Inc., are facing sentencing following guilty pleas and convictions.  Jerome Ruzicka, the former president of Starkey, orchestrated a scheme to steal millions from the hearing aid company, including through the use of sham companies and dummy entities through which the defendants directed funds for their own benefit, and through the award of restricted stock in affiliated companies.  Ruzicka will be sentenced to seven years in federal prison.  USAO MN

December 18, 2018

After submitting more than $3.5 million in false Medicare claims for home health services, John Dubor of Sugar Land, Texas, has been sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to pay $3.5 million in restitution.  Through his company, Care Committers Health Services, Dubor paid marketers and group home owners for Medicare beneficiary information, then falsely billed Medicare and Medicaid for home health services for which the beneficiaries did not qualify, did not receive, or both.  Dubor himself would falsify patient assessment forms to make patients appear sicker, entitling him to higher reimbursement rates, and instructed his employees to falsify certifications and forge physician signatures.  USAO SDTX

December 17, 2018

Margarita Palomino, of Homestead, Florida, has been sentenced to over six years in prison for her part in a health care scheme which defrauded Medicare out of $4.65 million. The scheme involved three home health agencies that claimed to provide services to Medicare patients. Palomino, licensed as a physician in Cuba, but not in the United States, admitted that she provided home health care nursing visits and prepared the accompanying medical records as would a licensed medical professional in the U.S. Furthermore, between the approximate time of January 2010 and January 2014, Palomino admitted to accepting kickbacks in return for the referral of Medicare beneficiaries, the majority of whom did not need or even qualify for the services. In addition to spending 78 months in prison, Palomino has been ordered to pay $4,658,241.00 in restitution and to forfeit $186,650.50.  DOJ        

November 27, 2018

Twelve individuals have been charged by a federal grand jury in a 22-count indictment related to a multi-year conspiracy to defraud the Pennsylvania Medicaid Home Care Program. The indictment lists a multitude of fraudulent acts by the defendants, alleging that they: submitted false claims for services that were not provided, misused consumers’ personal identifying information, provided false documentation during state audits, and even submitted claims to Medicaid for home care services for consumers who were hospitalized or no longer alive. Ten of the defendants reside in Western Pennsylvania, one is a resident of Georgia, and the twelfth defendant is a resident of South Carolina. Between January 2011 and April 2017, the conspirators, who owned and operated the home health care companies, received more than $87,000,000 in Medicaid payments.  The conspiracy and health care fraud charges each carry a maximum total sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.  DOJ

November 27, 2018

Following a guilty plea for receiving over $1 billion in bribes, the former Venezuelan national treasurer, Alejandro Andrade Cedeno ("Andrade"), was sentenced to ten years in prison and agreed to a forfeiture money judgment of $1 billion.  Andrade received the bribes in cash as well as private jets, yachts, cars, homes, champion horses, and high-end watches, in exchange for selecting the bribers to conduct currency exchange transactions for the Venezuelan government. DOJ