The FBI has arrested a Cuban immigrant who acted as a shell owner in a massive South Florida Medicare fraud ring, according to the Miami Herald.
Last month’s arrest of Juan Carralero at the Mexico-California border crossing marked the latest in a search for Cuban, Mexican and other Spanish-speaking immigrants who pretended to be owners of a phony HIV clinic, which is involved in a $100 million scam to take money from Medicare, the Herald reports.
Carralero, 60, is charged in a 2009 indictment for his role in the scam that included HIV clinics in Miami, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and North Carolina. The leader, Michael DeJesus Huarte, is serving 22 years in prison, the Herald said.
The FBI says it continues to look for 150 other fugitives in other South Florida Medicare fraud cases. Like this case, most fled to Cuba and other countries to avoid arrest, the Herald says.