MIAMI, Florida — A Florida nursing assistant has been sentenced to nine years in prison for his involvement in a multimillion-dollar health care fraud conspiracy, according to the Department of Justice.
Christian “Chris” Cruz, a 45-year-old from Pompano Beach, Florida, was also ordered to pay $3,712,345.70 in restitution and $724,871 in forfeiture, following his conviction for orchestrating a scheme that defrauded Medicare of $11.4 million. Cruz owned and operated a durable medical equipment supplier in Florida, through which he submitted false claims for unnecessary orthotic braces, according to court documents.
Cruz and an unnamed co-conspirator, who remains at large, paid illegal kickbacks to obtain signed doctors’ orders, which were used to ship braces to Medicare beneficiaries nationwide. Many recipients neither requested nor needed the braces. Cruz falsely claimed sole ownership of the company, concealing his partnership with the co-conspirator, a convicted felon, which would have disqualified the company from enrolling with Medicare…