Businessman gets prison for Medicare scam

MIAMI — A Miami businessman has been sentenced to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty charges stemming from a scheme to rip off Medicare.

Federal Judge Cecilia M. Altontaga sentenced Raul Lazaro Carbonell to serve three years of supervised release after his prison term. He also must pay restitution in the amount of $318,014.

According to the Indictment, Carbonell was the president of Royal Medical Services Corp, a durable medical equipment company based in Miami-Dade County.

From November 1, 2007, through February 13 2008, Carbonell was part of a scheme to defraud Medicare by submitting claims to Medicare for services and equipment that were not, in fact, rendered to Medicare patients.

During the course of the scheme, Carbonell submitted $902,363 in false claims to Medicare, of which $318,014 were paid and deposited into an account controlled by the defendant.