Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, September 16, 2011

Owner of Miami-Area Mental Health Company Sentenced to 50 Years in Prison for Orchestrating $205 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

Longest Prison Sentence Ever Imposed in a Medicare Fraud Strike Force Case

WASHINGTON – Miami resident Lawrence Duran, the owner of a mental health care company, American Therapeutic Corporation (ATC), was sentenced today to 50 years in prison for orchestrating a $205 million Medicare fraud scheme, announced the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the FBI.

Duran, 49, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King in the Southern District of Florida. Judge King ordered Duran to pay more than $87 million in restitution, jointly and severally with his co-defendants. Duran was also sentenced to three years of supervised release following his prison term. The sentencing hearing for Marianella Valera, the other owner of ATC, is scheduled for Sept. 19, 2011.

Two of the corporations that Duran and Valera used to commit the fraud scheme, ATC and Medlink Professional Management Group Inc., were sentenced today to five years of probation per count and ordered to pay restitution of $87 million. Both corporations have been defunct since their owners were arrested in October 2010.

On April 14, 2011, Duran and Valera pleaded guilty to all counts charged in a superseding indictment, which was unsealed on Feb. 15, 2011. The superseding indictment charged Duran with 38 felony counts and Valera with 21 felony counts, including conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, conspiracy to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks, conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering and structuring to avoid reporting requirements. Duran and Valera were remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service after their arrest on Oct. 21, 2010, and have been detained since that time. Their assets were frozen at the time of their arrests through civil forfeiture proceedings. ATC and Medlink pleaded guilty in May 2011 to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. ATC also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks.

“For years, Mr. Duran stole millions of taxpayer dollars by defrauding Medicare and preying upon vulnerable citizens suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and substance abuse,â€