Couple sentenced in $13.3M Medicare fraud scheme

DETROIT (AP) -- A Miami couple who ran clinics in the Detroit area have been sentenced for their roles in a $13.3 million Medicare fraud scheme. The Justice Department said Wednesday that 42-year-old Raymond Arias was given 8 years and 4 months in prison. His 25-year-old wife Emelitza Arias was sentenced to a year in prison. Raymond Arias was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit and ordered to pay $5.4 million in restitution. His wife was sentenced Wednesday and ordered to pay $532,000 in restitution. They pleaded guilty in October to conspiring to commit health care fraud. The government says that beginning in 2009, claims for never-rendered infusion therapy treatments at clinics in Westland and Madison Heights were submitted to Medicare. Prosecutors say Medicare paid about $5.9 million. Published: Fri, May 10, 2013