A Florida man awaiting trial for allegedly submitting more than $4 million USD in fraudulent health-care claims was detained on a jet ski as he tried to flee to Cuba.
U.S. Federal prosecutors are accusing Ernesto Cruz Graveran of submitting $4.2 million USD in bogus Medicare claims through his Florida- based company Xiko Enterprises, a medical device company. Graveran pocketed $2.1 million USD over just two months before the scheme unraveled. Upon investigation, it was found that the doctor listed as the prescriber had not filed any such claims to Medicare and that the recipients of the claims actually never existed.
On May 20, law enforcement agents learned that Graveran was scheduled to fly to Havana out of Miami in two days, the affidavit said. That day, they approached him at his home, where officials said he agreed to cooperate with their investigation. However, our fraudster must have appeared anxious. Maybe there were suitcases next to the car? Considering him a flight risk with most of his relatives living out of the country, the agents took Graveran’s passport before they left his home.
Ernesto Cruz Graveran needed to vamoose from Florida and having been stripped of his passport, he planned his trip/”escape” accordingly. Graveran hired a man known for smuggling illegal aliens to get him to Cuba. Usually, this man smuggled people into the United States, but he knew the route and had the jet ski which made him highly qualified to Graveran and his goal of getting to Cuba fast. The jet ski was fully loaded with a special fuel cell to allow for long trips and was stocked with enough food and water for the excursion. But best laid plans aren’t always good enough. Graveran and the smuggler were found on the broken-down jet ski in the Florida Keys.
Border Patrol agents rescued him and the alleged smuggler from their broken-down Jet Ski and, after a judge’s approval, had him jailed in the Federal Detention Center in Miami. Graveran, has since been charged with health-care fraud.
Great job to the Medicare fraud investigators and the local law enforcement for putting a stop to Graveran and Xiko Enterprises from further Medicare fraud.
Today’s “Fraud of the Day” is based on an article, posted in the Orlando Sentinel, June 15, 2022
Florida fraud suspect arrested after trying to Jet Ski to Cuba, officials say.
A Cuban man charged in a $4.2 million Medicare fraud scheme is being held as a flight risk after officials said he tried to flee the U.S. on a Jet Ski.
A federal judge in Miami ordered Ernesto Cruz Graveran, 54, of Hialeah, to be detained pending trial Monday, according to court records. He has been charged with health care fraud.
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