In 2023, three Miami-Dade clinic operators pleaded guilty to defrauding government-funded Medicaid program of approximately $16 million by falsely billing for unnecessary mental health services while paying kickbacks to patients.
But one of the three retracted his statement and opted to go to trial in February. A federal jury found Rigoberto Cordero guilty on 30 counts, including conspiracy, healthcare fraud, bribery, and money laundering.
On Thursday, Cordero, 61, was sentenced to 14 years in prison by U.S. District Judge James Cohn. He was also ordered to reimburse Medicaid for his losses.
By comparison, his wife, Mileidy Romero Tellechea, 44, was previously sentenced to four years after pleading guilty to a conspiracy charge and cooperating with prosecutors. The couple’s partner, Iset Yanes Doval, 39, received a lesser sentence of one year and four months.
“While Mr. Cordero’s decision to withdraw his previous guilty plea and proceed to trial may, in retrospect, appear reckless, it was based on his sincere belief in his innocence,” his defense attorney, Joaquín Pérez, wrote in a memorandum requesting a lesser sentence at Thursday’s hearing.
“The exercise of his constitutional right to a public jury trial, guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment, should not be used against him at sentencing.”
An indictment accused the couple of operating two clinics in West Miami-Dade County—1st Class Mental Health Services Corp. and Eternity Mental Health Corp.—that submitted false bills to the federally funded Medicaid program for “psychosocial rehabilitation services” between 2018 and 2022.
To carry out the scheme, the couple paid hundreds of dollars in bribes to Medicaid patients who neither needed nor attended mental health sessions, according to the indictment. Recruiters also received bribes for referring patients.
Those bribes made the entire healthcare billing scheme a “fraud” under the laws governing the Medicaid program, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Clark said in a court filing.
Medicaid, a state program that primarily serves low-income people, paid 1st Class about $10 million and Eternity another $6 million for bogus services, court documents state. Cordero and Romero, as owners of the two clinics, pocketed a good portion of that money and used it for personal expenses, Clark said. Yanes, the 1st Class office manager, assisted with the billing scheme, she added.