Doral Organized Schemes to Defraud Lawyers

Well, hey there, friends! Today we’re gonna chat about something that’s been in the news a lot lately – Doral organized schemes to defraud. As lawyers, it’s important we stay up-to-date on stuff like this, am I right?

Now, for those not in the know, Doral refers to a specific neighborhood in Miami. And when we talk about “organized schemes to defraud,” we’re talking about groups of people working together to scam others out of money or property. Not cool, right?

In Doral, officials uncovered a huge Medicare/Medicaid fraud ring back in 2017. We’re talking over $1 billion stolen! Yikes. The people involved set up fake clinics and billed the government for services that were never provided. Super sketchy.

Since then, Doral has become known for being a hotbed of schemes like this. Let’s get into some of the laws these fraudsters are breaking, shall we?

The main federal law is Title 18 U.S. Code § 1349 – you can click here to read the full text. But basically it says that if 2 or more people conspire to commit fraud or any other felony, they can get up to 20 years in prison. Not fun!

Florida also has its own laws about this stuff in Chapter 817 of the statutes. That covers false pretenses, frauds, swindles, and other shady doings. Lots of specific crimes there with serious penalties.

So if folks are working together to lie, cheat, and steal in Doral or anywhere else, they could be looking at some major jail time. Let’s get into some real-life examples…

Back in 2019, the feds busted a ring running an insurance fraud scam out of Doral. They were staging car crashes and filing false injury claims. Not very ethical!

In 2020, more fraudsters were caught billing Medicare for unnecessary back, knee, wrist and shoulder braces. Ugh, talk about sleazy.

And just last year, a Doral doc was sentenced for signing off on bogus home health care plans. He got over 3 years in prison!

The moral here is: Don’t try this kind of nonsense, people! The cops are onto these schemes, and the punishments are no joke.

Now, what about defenses if someone gets accused? Well, they could argue they didn’t actually intend to defraud. Or that they were coerced into it. Or they could try to cut a deal and turn on the other co-conspirators.

But realistically, the evidence doesn’t look good for most of these fraudsters. The paper trails, documents, phone records – it all points to them willingly participating. So they’re kinda screwed.

At the end of the day, organized schemes to defraud are bad news. Doral seems to attract more than its fair share of them for some reason. But officials are cracking down hard. For us lawyers, it’s important we understand the applicable laws here so we can best serve our clients.