Harlingen Couple Guilty In Multimillion-Dollar Medicare Fraud Scheme

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – The operators of a durable medical equipment (DME) company have pleaded guilty to defrauding Medicare, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei. Jeremiah Yzaguirre, 46, and his wife, Maria Luisa Yzaguirre, 45, both of Harlingen, operated a business called Southwest Medical Homepatient. The business was enrolled in the Medicare program as a provider of DME and services. It claimed to provide parts and repairs for power wheelchairs among other services. As part of their pleas, the couple admitted they received millions of dollars for parts and repairs that were never performed or provided. They both acknowledged billing Medicare approximately $736,072 for parts and repairs for one specific beneficiary, falsely claiming to have replaced expensive parts hundreds of times. They also admitted to using the proceeds from the fraud to purchase cryptocurrency, a vehicle, electronics, miscellaneous collectibles and purses. Medicare was billed approximately $14 million for power wheelchairs, parts and repairs for just 37 Medicare beneficiaries between 2019 and 2023 as a result of their scheme.

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