Bal Harbour brothers found guilty of billing millions for bogus detox services
Both in their 30s, Bal Harbour brothers Jonathan and Daniel Markovich are facing potentially decades in prison after being found guilty of swindling $112 million from private insurance companies for addiction treatment services that prosecutors say were either not provided or were unnecessary.
The Markovich brothers, who operated two substance treatment facilities in South Florida, were convicted Thursday of a healthcare fraud scheme built upon a network of recruiters who enticed patients with free airline tickets, illegal drugs and cash payments, according to evidence at their sevenweek trial in Fort Lauderdale federal court.
Both brothers are scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 13 for the healthcare fraud conspiracy charge and other offenses before U.S. District Judge William Dimitrouleas. The main count alone carries up to 20 years in prison.
The brothers are the latest defendants to be convicted of enriching themselves off substance abuse programs dubbed “sober homes” in a region that has long been considered the nation’s capital of healthcare fraud. Experts estimate fraud in South Florida and other regions of the country costs private and public health insurance providers billions of dollars annually.
Prosecutors accused the brothers of shuffling patients between Compass Detox in Pembroke Pines and WAR Network LLC in Hallandale Beach to bill millions of dollars for purported treatments to major private insurers, including Aetna, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Magellan Health. Among the fraudulent practices: detox services, therapy sessions and urinalysis tests, Justice Department prosecutors said.
Compass Detox patients were given a “comfort drink” to sedate them so they would keep coming back to the facility, according to prosecutors James Hayes and Jamie de Boer. Patients were also given large amounts of controlled substances to keep them compliant so they could be repeatedly cycled through Compass Detox and WAR to generate maximum billing and revenue, the prosecutors said.
“Their tactics were brazen and the dollar losses immense,” Miami FBI Special Agent in Charge George Piro said in a statement, asserting the brothers tried “to cheat their way to riches.”
In addition to healthcare fraud offenses, Jonathan Markovich, who owned the two detox facilities, was also convicted of several money laundering offenses and bank fraud stemming from his applications for federally guaranteed business loans provided by the U.S. government during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At trial, Jonathan Markovich, 37, was represented by attorneys Michael Pisano and Vanessa Singh Johannes. Daniel Markovich, 33, was defended by attorney Marissel Descalzo.
Other defendants in the brothers’ healthcare network pleaded guilty before trial.
Jay Weaver: 305-376-3446, @jayhweaver
Florida reported
1,610 COVID-19 cases and no new deaths on Friday, according to Saturday’s report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on Miami Herald calculations of CDC data.
The Florida Department of Health will most likely add more deaths to Friday’s total, increasing it from zero. The state has done this in the past when it has added cases and deaths to previous days during the pandemic.
In all, Florida has recorded at least 3,659,255 confirmed COVID cases and 60,197 deaths.
In the past seven days, on average, the state has added 100 deaths and 1,473 cases per day, according to Herald calculations of CDC data.
FLORIDA COVID-19 HOSPITALIZATIONS
There were 1,658 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida, according to a Saturday report by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, which compiled data from 256 Florida hospitals. Hospitalized COVID patients dropped by 74 from Friday’s report, when 258 hospitals submitted data.
This continues a trend of decreasing hospitalizations.
COVID-19 patients take up 2.87% of all inpatient beds in the latest report’s hospitals, compared to 2.98% in the previous day’s reporting.
Of the people hospitalized in Florida, 404 people were in intensive-care beds, a decrease of 21. That represents about 6.51% of the state’s ICU hospital beds, compared to 6.76% the previous day.