Gustavo Adolfo Smith

In April 2008, Gustavo Adolfo Smith was convicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, healthcare fraud, submission of false claims, and money laundering.

According to court records, from February 2005 to May 2007, Smith owned and operated MedStar Services, a durable medical equipment (DME) company in the Miami area. Smith was responsible for submitting more than $2.9 million in bills to Medicare for medical equipment that was never provided to Medicare beneficiaries. From these claims submissions, Smith received approximately $1.5 million from Medicare.

Smith persuaded his associates to register as the president and registered agents of MedStar so he could remain hidden to operate the fraudulent scheme. Smith maintained the majority of control over MedStar and he attempted to launder proceeds from his fraudulent claims by withdrawing and wire-transferring approximately $200,000 to a bank in Canada.

After being convicted, Smith was ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device while awaiting sentencing. On June 14, 2008, Smith's monitoring device set off an alert; authorities responding to the alert were unable to locate Smith. Later on the same day, authorities learned that Smith had boarded a flight from Miami to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.