HIV Infusion Clinic Administrator Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison For Health ...( WASHINGTON July 10 -- Miami resi...),Health

WASHINGTON, July 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Miami resident Aisa Perera, 42, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for her role in an $11 million scheme to defraud the Medicare program, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta of the Southern District of Florida announced.

Perera was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida by Judge Federico A. Moreno. In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Moreno ordered that the defendant be placed on three years of supervised release following her release from prison and pay $8,289,286 in restitution to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

On April 23, 2008, Perera pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, in connection with her role as administrator of Saint Jude Rehab Center Inc., an HIV clinic that purported to provide HIV infusion services to Medicare beneficiaries. In connection with her plea, Perera admitted that in June 2003, she opened Saint Jude with three co-conspirators who owned and operated several HIV clinics in the Miami area. The co-conspirators, Carlos, Luis and Jose Benitez were charged separately with health care fraud and money laundering crimes in an indictment unsealed on June 11, 2008. According to the separate indictment, these co-conspirators are alleged to have provided the money and staff necessary to open Saint Jude, the Medicare patients that Saint Jude would bill to the Medicare program and transportation for the HIV patients who visited Saint Jude. In return, the co-conspirators are alleged to have received 60 percent of all payments Saint Jude received from the Medicare program.

Perera also admitted that between June 2003 and November 2003, Saint Jude submitted approximately $11.3 million in fraudulent claims to the Medicare program for HIV infusion services that were either never provided or not medically ne
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