A Miami couple, Magaly Travieso and Yudorki Ramirez, have been sentenced in connection with a multi-million dollar health care fraud and money laundering scheme. According to a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, evidence presented in court showed that Travieso, 54, an advanced practice registered nurse, was sentenced to nine years in prison for her role in creating and submitting more than $20 million in fraudulent claims through her clinic, ProMed Healthcare, L.L.C.
Reflections of greed and deception marred the integrity of health care services as the investigation unveiled that, from March 2019 to at least January 2023, Travieso, alongside her accomplices, systematically defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurance entities by paying kickbacks to patients and fabricating medical records. In the course of their operations, ProMed collected in excess of $10 million for purported mental health therapies, and orthopedic goods, many of which were unneeded or never provided. Yudorki Ramirez, 53, Travieso’s former spouse, received a three-year prison term for his part in filtering nearly $2.07 million of the fraudulent proceeds into his investment accounts, among other personal expenditures.
Law enforcement's perseverance has culminated in the recovery of over $6 million in forfeited assets from the couple. The tangible manifestations of their crimes: Travieso’s 2021 Land Rover Range Rover and the substantial sums tucked away in the couple's bank accounts, have been seized; Ramirez had also used the ill-gotten gains to purchase a residence in Miami. Adding to their punitive measures, the court ordered the duo to cough up millions in restitution to the government and the victims they had deceitfully billed, as detailed in the same press release.
The diligent work of the FBI’s Miami Field Office, the HHS Office of Inspector General, and Florida’s MFCU, under the guidance of prosecutors Joseph Egozi and Joshua Paster, brought this case to a head, offering a clear message to potential fraudsters that the healthcare system is not to be trifled with, and the penalties for such exploitation will be severe. U.S. Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne emphasized the office’s firm commitment to holding accountable those who defraud federally funded health care programs and use the financial system to launder criminal proceeds.
Public access to formal documents and further case details is granted through the District Court for the Southern District of Florida’s website and the PACER system, ensuring transparency and upholding the public's trust in the system’s capacity to bring wrongdoers to justice and in recovering assets for government and innocent victims alike, as noted by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
