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Editor: Mike Bothwell
Profession: Qui Tam Attorney

Category: Settlements and Verdicts

Carlos, Jose and Luis Benitez, along with Thomas McKenzie, a physician's assistant, were charged with money laundering by the Department of Justice's Criminal Division and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida. The four allegedly made more than $110 million worth of false claims to Medicare between 2001 and 2004.

According to the indictment, two of the brothers, Carlos and Luis Benitez, paid Medicare beneficiaries at eleven clinics they oversaw to submit claims for HIV infusion services that were neither provided nor medically necessary. The physician's assistant, Thomas McKenzie, allegedly trained staff on how to prepare and submit false claims to Medicare.

Prosecutors in this case asked that the suspects receive up to 155 years imprisonment for Carlos and Luis Benitez, the maximum sentence of 40 years of imprisonment for Jose Benitez, and 50 years for Thomas McKenzie.