Aventura man among three indicted in massive COVID-19 fraud scheme: USAO

FLORIDA – An Aventura man, one of three owners of an independent laboratory, has been accused of participating in a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme involving COVID-19 testing.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida (USAO), an indictment was unsealed on Wednesday in the Southern District of Florida, charging three men for their alleged roles in an approximately $36 million health care fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering scheme.

The scheme is said to have involved submitting false and fraudulent claims for COVID-19 testing to healthcare benefit programs, including Medicare and the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) COVID-19 Uninsured Program.

Enrique Perez-Paris, 47, of Aventura, and Diego Sanudo Sanchez Chocron, 47, of Venice, California, made their initial appearances on April 24 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Gregory Charles “Milo” Caskey, 57, of San Antonio, Texas, made his initial appearance today in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

According to court documents, Perez-Paris, Sanchez, and Caskey owned Innovative Genomics, an independent laboratory. Between November 2019 and June 2023, the defendants and others allegedly conspired to submit claims for medically unnecessary and non-reimbursable COVID-19 testing.

The defendants also allegedly paid illegal kickbacks and bribes to patient recruiters, who arranged for health care providers to refer the tests to Innovative Genomics. At times, the defendants allegedly caused the HRSA COVID-19 Uninsured Program to be improperly billed for tests for Medicare beneficiaries.

The defendants allegedly also billed for tests that the Food and Drug Administration had not approved for emergency-use authorization.

The defendants are each charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, three counts of health care fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. If convicted, they each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each conspiracy count and a maximum penalty of 10 years on each health care fraud count.

U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida; Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri of the FBI Miami Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Stephen Mahmood of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Miami Regional Office made the announcement.

The FBI and HHS-OIG investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Reginald Cuyler Jr. of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section is prosecuting the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marx Calderon for the Southern District of Florida is handling asset forfeiture.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.