In September, Pharmed Group former CEO and Director Carlos De Cespedes and his brother, Jorge De Cespedes, Pharmed’s former president and director, pleaded guilty to healthcare and wire fraud and tax evasion in a scheme dating back to 1993.
The brothers admitted to overcharging Kendall Regional Medical Center in Miami by more than $5 million through a fraudulent purchase order scheme. The influential brothers founded Pharmed, one of the country’s largest Hispanic-owned businesses and were majority shareholders in the firm. They also owned the Charlotte Bobcats basketball team and a venture capital firm.
Pharmed filed for bankruptcy protection last year. In their plea agreement the brothers accepted responssibility for their actions, which included using the hospital’s computer purchasing system to buy large orders from Pharmed, then record that the imaginary supplies had been delivered though the hospital never received them.
Four other defendants, former Kendall and Pharmed employees and conspirators with outside companies who accepted the money and distributed the proceeds, were also sentenced to prison terms of two and one-half to six years. Collectively, they were ordered to pay more than $15 million in restitution.
The De Cespedes brothers also underreported their tax income and face taxes of more than $7 million.
Read the press release on sentencing of the Pharmed directors.
