A Florida “middleman” convicted of laundering millions of dollars of fleeced Medicare payments to Cuba — in the first criminal case of its kind in the United States — was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison by a Miami federal judge Thursday.
Oscar L. Sanchez was also ordered to serve an additional 1 1/2 years of home confinement, turn over about a half-million dollars in assets to the U.S. government and perform 1,600 hours of community service…
Sanchez, who is also a Cuban-born U.S. citizen, was indicted on the single conspiracy charge of playing a pivotal role in laundering the profits of 70 South Florida medical companies that falsely billed Medicare for $374.4 million and were paid $70.7 million.
In October, prosecutors revealed that Sanchez collaborated with a currency exchange businessman who allegedly played the dominant role in the Medicare money-laundering scheme.
Through Sanchez’s cooperation, prosecutors discovered that an offshore remittance company called Caribbean Transfers financed the complex money-laundering ring that moved more than $30 million in stolen Medicare money from South Florida into Cuba’s banking system.
Prosecutors filed conspiracy charges against the founder of the Caribbean-based company, Jorge Emilio Perez, who is at large, and two Miami-Dade men suspected of defrauding the taxpayer-funded Medicare program. The latter defendants, Felipe Ruiz and Kirian Vega, have since pleaded guilty to laundering their Medicare profits through the convicted check-cashing store owner, who did business with Caribbean Transfers.
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