US District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan has sentenced Luis Lacerda (37, West Palm Beach) to three years and five months in federal prison, Omar Solari (36, Fort Lauderdale) to 2 years and six months in federal prison, Michael Murphy (38, Fort Lauderdale) to 15 months in federal prison, and Joelson Viveros (45, Boca Raton) to 5 years’ probation for their respective roles in a $54.3 million healthcare fraud scheme in which the defendants paid kickbacks and bribes to telemarketers and telemedicine providers to secure orders for medically unnecessary prescriptions that were billed to Medicare. The court also ordered Lacerda to forfeit $15,600,333.30 and pay $54,303,526 in restitution; Solari to forfeit $6,341,240.58 and pay $36,246,251 in restitution; Murphy to forfeit $3,650,943.36 and pay $8,374,175 in restitution; and Viveros to forfeit $894,116.45 and pay $3,017,135 in restitution. Each previously pleaded guilty to their role in a conspiracy in which the co-conspirators owned and operated pharmacies that participated in the Medicare program, including one located in Jacksonville.
According to court documents, from approximately 2018 through 2021, the co-conspirators paid kickbacks and bribes to telemarketing companies in exchange for recruiting Medicare beneficiaries to accept prescriptions for various medications—mainly topical creams—which the beneficiaries did not want or need. Some of the co-conspirators also operated companies that engaged in telemarketing activities to develop beneficiary leads.
