U.S. convicts Cuban Medicare fraudster of US$16 million

The U.S. justice system sentenced 58-year-old Cuban national, Ariel Núñez-Finalet, to three years in prison, who must pay 1.9 million dollars to Medicare after participating in a vast network that embezzled 16 million dollars from the federal program.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Nunez-Finalet was part of a ring of local pharmacy owners who submitted false claims to Medicare worth more than $16 million between January 2011 and September 2014.

Nunez-Finalet is one more of the Medicare fraud cases involving Cubans arriving from the island in recent years, according to authorities.

The Cuban, who managed to evade justice for more than a decade, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, ending a manhunt that took him from Cuba to Mexico and, finally, to extradition from Spain, where he was incarcerated for eight months.

As the legal owner and registered agent of Lily & Rosy Pharmacy Discount Corp, Nunez-Finalet played a key role in the fraud, furthering it at numerous other pharmacies as well.

His modus operandi consisted of cashing checks and withdrawing cash, usually below the legal reporting limit, to provide funds to so-called "patient recruiters," who offered illegal kickbacks in exchange for Medicare beneficiary information.

When Nunez-Finalet and his accomplices were indicted in April 2016, he had already fled to his native country, where he lived for years, until moving to Mexico in 2022. However, finally, on March 21, 2023, he was arrested in Spain thanks to an Interpol Red Alert.

Following a formal extradition request from the United States, Núñez-Finalet was handed over to U.S. authorities on November 21, 2023.

U.S. Attorney Joseph Egozi, in a sentencing memorandum, underscored the seriousness of the case and the authorities' determination to pursue fugitives seeking to evade justice.

"Many of these fraudsters are Cuban nationals fleeing to Cuba, including this defendant and two fugitive leaders of this conspiracy, and these fugitives are rarely held accountable for their crimes," Egozi wrote.

Nunez's defense attorney, Jose Carlos Villanueva, acknowledged that his client is "sincerely remorseful" and aware of the impact of his actions, after spending three and a half years in a Cuban prison and another eight months in Spanish custody.

@ADNCuba