A Miami mother and son pleaded guilty Tuesday to taking part in a $16 million Medicare fraud scheme.
Niurka Fernandez, 54, and Roberto Alvarez, 29, both pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Authorities say Fernandez, the owner of Calan Pharmacy & Discount Service and Best Pharmacy, both in Miami-Dade, organized the scheme which paid Medicare beneficiaries and patient recruiters for prescriptions that were medically unnecessary.
Fernandez admitted she billed Medicare for many prescription medications that they never even dispensed to the beneficiaries, authorities said.
Alvarez claimed to work at Best Pharmacy as a pharmacy technician but facilitated kickback payments to Medicare beneficiaries, and wrote checks to money launderers in order to obtain cash to pay the kickbacks to the Medicare beneficiaries, authorities said.
Medicare made more than $16 million in overpayments to Calan Pharmacy and Best Pharmacy as a result of the scheme, officials said.
