April 13, 2016

Nery Cowan, a former health care clinic consultant and Medicare biller for partial hospitalization program Greater Miami Behavioral Healthcare Center Inc. was sentenced to 135 months in prison and ordered to pay a $100,000 fine for her role in laundering money in connection with a $63 million health care fraud scheme.  As part of her guilty plea, Cowan admitted to directing and authorizing the payment of kickbacks and bribes to patient brokers and others in exchange for Medicare beneficiary referrals.  Cowan also admitted that Greater Miami personnel routinely falsified medical records affiliated with these recruited Medicare beneficiaries to support false claims to Medicare.  Cowan also admitted that she, along with co-defendants Dean Butler and Irina Mora, took great lengths to conceal kickback payments to shell companies owned by “patient brokers” who, on behalf of Greater Miami, solicited Medicare beneficiaries from assisted living facilities, halfway houses and drug courts located throughout the Southern District of Florida.  Judge Bloom previously sentenced Butler and Mora to 16 years and nine years in prison, respectively, following their guilty pleas.  DOJ

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, Healthcare Fraud,