Gonzalez, 48, and seven other defendants have been charged with Medicare fraud and laundering the proceeds. They’re accused of recruiting Cubans to pose as “straw owners” of home healthcare agencies — along with dozens of shell companies and bank accounts — to hide the identities of the actual operators and the illicit money flowing to them. The organization controlled a total of 140 bank accounts, according to court papers. This is not the first time such a scheme has been carried out in Miami, the nation’s reputed capital of Medicare fraud. Since 2007, about 2,500 defendants submitting $8.3 billion in false claims have been charged in South Florida — including numerous cases involving suspects and fugitives from Cuba. But the sheer volume of Medicare billing activity over such a short span of three years sets the Gonzalez case apart from scores of other healthcare fraud prosecutions in South Florida.
