The largest fraudster in US history was recently pardoned by President Donald Trump on May 28. According to news agency reports, businessman Lawrence Duran was sentenced to 50 years in prison for leading a fraud scheme against the US healthcare system. The president's ruling is included in a series of more than XNUMX pardons granted that day.
Of all the cases, Duran's stands out for its magnitude, its impact, and the harshness of the initial sentence he received. Until then, Duran was serving the longest sentence ever handed down for Medicare-related crimes: fifty years in prison. Lawrence Duran was one of the co-founders of American Therapeutic Corporation (ATC), a network of mental health hospitals headquartered in Miami with a presence in Orlando and other areas of South Florida.
Between 2002 and 2010, Lawrence and his wife and business partner, Marianella Valera, carried out a scheme to circumvent Medicare mechanisms that generated more than $205 million in losses, of which they collected approximately $87 million. The company issued deceptive claims related to mental health treatments that were never provided or were offered to people who didn't qualify.
Among the victims were elderly people suffering from Alzheimer's, dementia, and others who were unable to receive group treatments while the state was billed for the treatment. Those involved submitted more than 866.000 deceptive claims and held medical registration events in which they created false documents to validate fabricated treatments.
To justify the payments, they were laundered through shell companies such as the American Sleep Institute and MedLink Professional Management Group, which concealed the illegal origin of the money.
The scam was not carried out individually. The couple benefited from an extensive network involving more than 30 people, including doctors, administrative staff, patient recruiters, counselors, psychiatrists, and others. Many of them offered payments to nursing homes in order to refer patients who then received a cut. The Department of Justice stated that, in certain cases, some patients received a portion of these bribes.
The concept was clear: increase the number of patients with at-risk individuals, justify unnecessary interventions, and charge Medicare exorbitant amounts. A key figure in the case was Judith Negrón, who served as vice president at MedLink. She was convicted of 24 crimes related to fraud, conspiracy, money laundering, and bribery. In 2011, Judith received a 35-year prison sentence. During his first term, Trump also reduced her sentence in 2020.
Thanks to the illegally obtained funds, Duran and Valera enjoyed a life of opulence. They lived in an apartment overlooking Miami Bay and drove around in a Maserati. However, their desire for success went beyond just accumulating wealth.
In 2006, Duran established and led the National Association for Behavioral Health (NABH), an organization he used as a cover to influence Congress and obtain more funding for partial hospitalization programs, which, curiously, were the same ones his company was fraudulently manipulating.
In fact, NABH served as an entity that provided Durán with a legitimate cover to lobby Congress to secure increased Medicare funding for himself and his co-conspirators through its deceptive claims, Justice Department attorney Jennifer Saulino asserted in a court filing.
Duran also taught NABH employees how to win appeals of Medicare claim denials, drawing on ATC's experience, which gave him the opportunity to share his techniques with other facilities.
In May 2011, both Duran and Valera pleaded guilty. Duran received a 50-year prison sentence and was ordered to pay $87 million as an accessory measure. This was the most severe penalty imposed for Medicare fraud, far surpassing the previous 30-year record.
Meanwhile, Valera was sentenced to 35 years in prison, but her sentence was reduced to 15 years, and she was released in 2020. Margarita Acevedo, who serves as marketing director at ATC, was sentenced to 91 months in prison. Other employees and collaborators were also sentenced.
National government officials applauded the court rulings. “I hope this sends a message to those seeking to defraud the government… they will go to jail for a long time if caught,” Saulino wrote.
President Trump's action in pardoning Lawrence Duran has generated surprise and alarm. The scale of the deception, the manipulation of people in precarious situations, and the professional organization behind the crime made it a landmark case. The release of its mastermind raises significant questions about the rationale for granting pardons. Many believe this release not only nullifies an exemplary sentence, but also sends a disturbing message that the most serious crimes can be pardoned for political gain.
