Federal Judge Sentences Defendants Who Perpetrated $10.9 Million Medicare Fraud HIV Infus...( WASHINGTON Aug. 7 -- Mia...),Health

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Miami physician Keith Russell, 65, and physician's assistant Jorge Luis Pacheco, 50, were each sentenced to 97 months in prison, and physician's assistant Eda Marietta Milanes, 43, was sentenced to 63 months in prison, for their roles in fraud schemes that involved billing Medicare for $10,903,509 worth of unnecessary HIV infusion treatments, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Jeffrey H. Sloman of the Southern District of Florida; and Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announced today.

Russell, Pacheco and Milanes were also ordered to pay more than $3.1 million in restitution to the Medicare program during their sentencing hearings before U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro.

Russell, Pacheco and Milanes were convicted by a jury of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and multiple counts of health care fraud on March 17, 2009, after a two-week trial in Miami.

"Medical professionals serve as the gatekeepers of the Medicare system, and their single most important duty is to determine the best care for their patients," said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division. "Physicians and their assistants who choose instead to abuse the public trust and enrich themselves by gaming Medicare will be vigorously prosecuted, and we will continue to expand our strike force operations to stamp out this kind of blatant fraud."

"The infusion clinic in this case was established for the sole purpose of defrauding Medicare -- these doctors saw no patients, administered no legitimate medical services, and paid a cash kickback to patients for each visit," said Acting U.S. Attorney Jeffrey H. Sloman of the Southern District of Florida. "In this way, the defendants bilked Medicare out of millions of dollars in f
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