Philip Esformes, an obsessive businessman who built an empire of healthcare facilities in Miami-Dade, was found guilty Friday of over 20 charges, including bribery and paying kickbacks, in a scheme to generate streams of patients for both his businesses.
The wealthy Miami Beach executive managed his Miami-Dade chain of skilled-nursing and assisted-living facilities with an iron hand, with prosecutors arguing that he had billed close to $1 billion for questionable services that patients largely didn’t need or even receive.
Esformes faced 26 charges overall and the 12-person jury, after four days of deliberation, came back with guilty verdicts in most of them in what was touted as the biggest Medicare fraud case in the country — in the reputed capital of such criminal activity, Miami. Jurors, however, did not reach a verdict on the main count — that Esformes had conspired to defraud the taxpayer-funded Medicare program.
Source: Miami healthcare exec Philip Esformes found guilty of paying kickbacks and bribes / Miami Herald