Jury will decide fate of health executive in $1 billion Medicare fraud trial
According to
Prosecutors put on a series of convicted healthcare associates, a former hospital director and an ex-
"
But Esformes' defense team of high-priced lawyers also called a lineup of witnesses at trial, such as nurses, therapists and administrators who once worked for him. They testified about his hands-on management style, generosity of time and money, and devotion to his family and Jewish faith. They argued that his patients, whether coming out of hospital surgery or suffering from mental illness, received the care they needed in his facilities under Medicare and Medicaid coverage.
His principal defense lawyer,
Black said two healthcare associates working undercover for the feds recorded a series of conversations with Esformes, and he never talked about fleecing the federal program. "In those 40 hours ... they couldn't get one piece of evidence that
Esformes' fate will soon be in the hands of 12 Miami federal jurors, who received jury instructions from U.S. District Judge
Jurors will have to weigh two months' worth of evidence -- undercover recordings, financial documents, text messages and testimony from convicted associates -- in a case built mostly upon conspiracy charges involving healthcare fraud, paying and receiving kickbacks, money laundering, bribery and obstruction of justice.
Esformes, 50, who was arrested in
Even by the standards of
According to the
Esformes is also accused of referring his own network of patients to convicted healthcare-fraud offenders, including Guillermo and
Both testified that they paid some kickbacks for Esformes' patients by disguising them as payments for escort services for Esformes as well as related travel and hotel expenses, including at the Ritz-Carlton in
Esformes was also charged with obstructing justice because prosecutors say he plotted in 2015 with the Delgado brothers to help one of them leave
During his testimony, Salazar said he and his partners initially delivered wads of cash to Esformes in exchange for access to his Medicare patients, but later hid the kickbacks in inflated rents for a rundown assisted-living facility in Little Havana that Esformes leased to them. Like the Delgado brothers, Salazar pleaded guilty and cooperated with federal authorities.
Esformes is also accused of paying bribes through
During closing arguments, Black said Esformes never received kickbacks of any kind from the Delgado brothers and never paid bribes to obtain state inspection reports.
Perhaps the most riveting testimony at Esformes' trial came from a former University of
Allen, now an assistant basketball coach with the
Allen, who was fired in
Esformes stood trial alone because all of his co-conspirators have already pleaded guilty, including a physician's assistant,
Carmouze, 59, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud Medicare by accepting bribes for making patient referrals to Larkin and Esformes' healthcare facilities. Barcha, 52, pleaded guilty to conspiring to pay bribes to physicians to refer patients to Larkin and receiving kickbacks herself to move patients into Esformes' facilities.
In turn, both avoided the risk of trial and much longer prison sentences. Carmouze faces eight years and Barcha three and a half years in prison.
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