{"id":424875,"date":"2026-01-23T11:21:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T11:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/424875\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T11:21:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T11:21:12","slug":"florida-nursing-assistant-convicted-in-11-4m-medicare-brace-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/424875\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida nursing assistant convicted in $11.4M Medicare brace scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A Florida <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/topic\/Nursing%20aide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">nursing assistant<\/a> who sent thousands of unnecessary orthotic braces to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.medicare.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Medicare <\/a>patients was convicted Thursday in an $11.4 million fraud scheme built on fake doctors\u2019 orders and hidden ownership.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Department of Justice said that Christian \u201cChris\u201d Cruz, 45, of<a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/topic\/Pompano%20Beach\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> Pompano Beach<\/a>, owned a durable medical equipment company that billed Medicare for<a href=\"https:\/\/my.clevelandclinic.org\/health\/treatments\/orthotics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> orthotic braces, <\/a>federal investigators say, that beneficiaries didn\u2019t request or require. Prosecutors said he and a coconspirator bought fraudulent doctors\u2019 orders with illegal kickbacks, then used them to ship braces nationwide and file millions in false claims.<\/p>\n<p>Assistant Attorney General<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/criminal\/staff-profile\/assistant-attorney-general-tysen-duva#:~:text=Andrew%20Tysen%20Duva%20has%20served,In%20this%20capacity%2C%20Mr.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> A. Tysen Duva <\/a>said Cruz \u201cblatantly lied to Medicare\u201d to steal taxpayer money, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fbi.gov\/contact-us\/field-offices\/miami\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">FBI Miami<\/a> Assistant Special Agent in Charge Chris Caldwell called it a calculated scheme to \u201cenrich himself by defrauding Medicare to the tune of millions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Investigators said Cruz also hid that he coowned the company with a convicted felon \u2014 a fact that would have barred Medicare enrollment. The coconspirator remains at large.<\/p>\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/18-million-emergency-room-approved-after-avenirs-rapid-growth-overloads-local-services-palm-beach-gardens-city-council-south-florida-news-palm-beach-county-erik-cazares-ceo-of-palm-beach-gardens-medical-center-january-22-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">$18 million emergency room approved after Avenir&#8217;s rapid growth overloads local services<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Evidence showed Cruz funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into his personal account, withdrawing cash just under the $10,000 reporting threshold at different South Florida banks, according to the DOJ. <\/p>\n<p>A jury convicted Cruz of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, health care fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and structuring. He faces up to 125 years in federal prison at his April 13 sentencing.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI and HHSOIG investigated. Trial Attorney Owen Dunn and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sterling Paulson prosecuted the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A Florida nursing assistant who sent thousands of unnecessary orthotic braces to Medicare&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":{"0":"post-424875","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}