MIAMI--A man accused of heading up a multi-million dollar Medicare fraud scheme before fleeing to Mexico was brought back to the country and arraigned July 20, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida has announced.

According to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Miami field offices of the FBI and the IRS:

Lazaro Betancourt, along with six others, was indicted in July 2004 for submitting false DME claims to Medicare and paying kickbacks and bribes to patient recruiters for fictitious patients. Betancourt owned three fraudulent DMEs--Venenic Medical Supplies, MCM Medical Equipment & Supplies and 21st Century Medical Equipment Corp.--but used straw owners to conceal his identity.

When Betancourt learned of a federal investigation into his activities in late 2002, he fled the country. On July 1, the FBI learned that Betancourt had been taken into custody in Cancun, Mexico, on unrelated charges, and the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs worked with the Mexican government to return him to the United States. When he was placed on a flight to Miami on July 14, he attempted to escape and told agents that they would have to shoot him before he would return to the U.S.

Last year's indictment charges him with being the leader of a $7 million health care fraud and $4 million money laundering ring. If convicted on all 79 counts of the indictment, Betancourt faces a maximum of 490 years imprisonment.

To date, more than 40 individuals have been convicted as a result of this investigation into Medicare DME fraud in Miami-Dade County.

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