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Feds: Miami doc’s $38M health care fraud scheme paid for condos, cars; now he’s going to prison

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Feds: Miami doc’s M health care fraud scheme paid for condos, cars; now he’s going to prison


MIAMI – A Miami doctor’s six-year, $38 million well being care fraud scheme paid for luxurious vehicles and beachfront condominiums, prosecutors say.

However 63-year-old Armando Valdes received’t be doing any driving the place he’ll be dwelling subsequent—and the lodging are positive to be a step down.

That’s as a result of on Tuesday, a choose sentenced him to 5 years in federal jail after a responsible plea earlier this 12 months.

In accordance with the U.S. Division of Justice, Valdes owned and operated Miami-based Gasiel Medical Providers from Feb. 2015 by means of July 2021 and submitted roughly $38 million in fraudulent claims to United Healthcare and Blue Cross Blue Protect.

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These claims have been for infusions of the drug Infliximab, higher identified by the model title Remicade.

The drug is used to deal with various sicknesses, together with Crohn’s illness, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and plaque psoriasis.

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It’s some of the costly medication in the marketplace—a single dose can retail for almost $10,000.

However regardless of submitting $38 million in insurance coverage claims, Valdes admitted he by no means offered a lot as a single dose of the remedy to a affected person.

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“Valdes tried to hide his involvement on this fraud scheme by distancing himself on paper from the medical clinic,” the DOJ mentioned in a information launch. “For instance, Valdes employed a 91-year-old doctor at Gasiel Medical Providers who not often handled sufferers and by no means prescribed Infliximab, however who Valdes listed because the rendering supplier for all $38 million of the fraudulently billed Infliximab infusions.”

Prosecutors mentioned he additionally paid one other particular person to behave as Gasiel Medical Providers’ “nominee proprietor.”

“This different particular person, and never Valdes, was listed because the president and registered agent of the clinic in company information and different official paperwork,” they mentioned.

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Valdes’ ill-gotten features included 4 actual property properties, together with a beachfront condominium in Pompano Seashore, in addition to quite a few luxurious automobiles, together with a Cadillac Escalade and a Tesla Mannequin S, prosecutors mentioned.

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Federal prosecutors are dealing with asset forfeiture, in line with the DOJ.

Copyright 2022 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.



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Miami, FL

Agent Sheds Light on Hill Situation

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Agent Sheds Light on Hill Situation


Four days ago after Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill’s headline-grabbing comment “I’m out” that followed his pulling himself out of the season finale against the New York Jets, his agent shed some light on his client’s mind-set but left unanswered the biggest question of all.

Appearing on the Pat McAfee Show, Drew Rosenhaus said Hill showed his dedication and commitment to the Dolphins in 2024 by playing the entire season through a wrist injury that doctors said required surgery, but declined to say whether Hill did or did not want to be traded because he hasn’t spoken to the wide receiver yet.

Hill hasn’t written anything on X in the past couple of days that would indicate his preference, though he did change back his avatar to a picture of himself in a Dolphins uniform after having for one day his head shot superimposed on the barechested Antonio Brown as he walking out on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the middle of a game at MetLife Stadium.

What Rosenhaus did say from Hard Rock Stadium is that Hill broke his wrist during a joint practice with the Washington Commanders.

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“We have top-risk doctors saying to Tyreek, ‘You need to get this operated on, you’re going to miss the season,’ ” Rosenhaus said. “Tyreek says to me and the Dolphins, ‘I’m not going to miss the season. I’m going to play, I want to be here for my team.’ The doctors all said it’s going to be painful. It could impact your entire career. If you don’t get it done now, you may not be able to fix it all the way. Tyreek said, hey, the heck with it. I’m a team guy. I’m going for it. This hampered him all year long. He deserves a lot of credit.

“Tyreek is very passionate. Anyone I’ve ever represented that was great was passionate. They cared. What you see with Tyreek is very genuine. He wants to win. It’s not good enough for him not to make the playoffs. He’s very passionate. I think at the end of the day, he’s committed to this Dolphins football team. He had an excellent meeting with Chris Grier, Mike McDaniel. I believe that Tyreek is a great asset to the Dolphins. And I think he’s the least guy that people should be worried about for this organization. They have many more worries. Tyreek Hill is not one of them.”

GM Chris Grier said during the Dolphins’ end-of-season press conference that both he and head coach Mike McDaniel had productive conversations with Hill the previous day in their exit meetings and that Hill never asked to be traded, even though he didn’t take back anything he said after the game.

This was a really tough year all around for Hill, with off-the-field turmoil (most notably being detained by police officers outside Hard Rock Stadium on the day of the season opener), the wrist injury, and on-field results that included his first season without being selected to the Pro Bowl (though Rosenhaus said Hill was a second alternate), his first season without 1,000 receiving yards when making at least 13 starts, and his first time missing the playoffs since he entered the NFL in 2016.

For the Dolphins, having a healthy and happy Hill is the best thing for them in 2025.

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Trading him would be a last resort because they would not get equal value in return because of Hill’s age, recent injuries, salary and checkered past. Check out suggested trades online over the past couple of days and they usually involve something like a third-round pick.

More importantly, for the Dolphins to rebound and return to the playoffs in 2025, having Hill would make that task a lot easier to accomplish.



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Miami, FL

Alberto M. Carvalho on the fires in Los Angeles

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Alberto M. Carvalho on the fires in Los Angeles


Alberto M. Carvalho on the fires in Los Angeles – CBS Miami

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Alberto M. Carvalho, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District and former Miami-Dade Schools superintendent, on the fires raging in LA.

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Ewin, Bowen lead FSU's second-half charge in road rout of Miami

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Ewin, Bowen lead FSU's second-half charge in road rout of Miami


There were some too-close-for-comfort moments in the second half. But in the end, Florida State picked up its first road win of the season with an emphatic finish at Miami.

Malique Ewin scored 20 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, while Taylor Bol Bowen had 16 points and six rebounds in FSU’s 80-65 win on Wednesday in Coral Gables.

FSU has won 15 of the last 16 games in the series vs. Miami. The Seminoles have won each game at Coral Gables since Jan. 2019.

Ewin shot 10 of 14 from the floor, dazzling with an array of post moves and delivering thunderous dunks. It was his third double-double of the season, but it was his first in an ACC game.

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Bowen shot 6 of 6 from the floor, drilling all four of his 3-pointers. He added three assists.

Daquan Davis had nine points and 10 assists. The Seminoles had a season-best 26 assists.

The Seminoles were stingy on the defensive end of the court. Justin Thomas had three of FSU’s eight steals. Chandler Jackson had three of FSU’s seven blocks.

“I thought everybody contributed,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. “There wasn’t anybody that came into the game that didn’t have an affect.”

The Seminoles (11-4, 2-2 ACC) have won back-to-back league games going into a matchup on Saturday at Clemson — which is 4-0 in conference games.

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Former FSU guard Matthew Cleveland struggled in the first half, scoring three points. But he finished with 16 points on 6 of 12 shooting for Miami (4-11, 0-4).

FSU shot 32 of 64 (50 percent) from the floor and 10 of 24 (41.7 percent) from 3-point range.



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