A man was apprehended while attempting to travel to Cuba on a jet ski with food and water to avoid insurance fraud charges.
Ernesto Cruz Graveran, 54, of Hialeah, was arrested in the Florida Keys on a ‘broken down’ jet ski, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida on Tuesday.
‘The jet ski was outfitted with a special fuel cell to allow for long trips, and law enforcement discovered a trove of food and water bottles within the compartments of the jet ski,’ according to the US Attorney’s office.
It was unclear how far Graveran got in his 90-mile journey to Cuba before being captured by US Coast Guard members.
‘I believe it is probable that Cruz Graveran was in fact fleeing to Cuba aboard the jet ski to evade prosecution,’ Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Carlos Suarez wrote in the criminal complaint.
According to the US Attorney’s office, Graveran ran Xiko Enterprises, a medical device company that allegedly made false claims for $4.2 million in Medicare payments.
The Hialeah-based corporation sought $1 million in claims for equipment allegedly written for 145 people by one doctor. Investigators discovered, however, that none of this was accurate.
The US Attorney’s office asserted that ‘none of those 145 beneficiaries were in fact patients of that physician,’ and that ‘that physician never prescribed any of the billed-for DME (durable medical equipment).’
Graveran received $2.1 million in federal government payments between February and April, before the feds discovered the plan and indicted him.
Graveran was ordered imprisoned without bail at the Federal Detention Center in Miami by US Magistrate Judge Alicia Otazo-Reyes while awaiting his trial. Graveran’s passport was confiscated when the judge determined that he was a flight risk.
Graveran was apprehended alongside another individual who had previously brought illegal aliens into the United States.