Florida Criminal Defense Blog | Brunvand, Wise & Farinella Law Group

Largo Man Facing Ninth Drunk Driving Charge After Recent Escapade

On Behalf of Brunvand, Wise & Farinella Law Group | Jun 29, 2020 | Dui

A Largo man finds himself in an all-too-familiar situation after being charged in Pinellas County with his ninth drunk driving charge. The 61-year-old man first came to the attention of authorities thanks to a report to 9-1-1 of an erratic driver piloting a blue Ford truck. The witness followed the defendant until Largo police arrived and effected a traffic stop. Police say they immediately suspected the defendant of impairment, as they say they noted the odor of alcoholic drink, did not speak clearly, and had watery and bloodshot eyes. The defendant declined to participate in a field...

Chicago Man Charged By Feds With Bank Fraud Over $400 Thousand Paycheck Protection Program Loan

On Behalf of Brunvand, Wise & Farinella Law Group | Jun 25, 2020 | Government Fraud

A Chicago-area man is facing Federal fraud charges relating to allegations that he attempted to wrongly obtain over $400,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans earlier this year. According to investigators, the 51-year-old man applied for the loans, which are guaranteed by the Small Business Association (SBA) and authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in order to fill payroll for a firm he owns. To support the claims made in the loan application, the man allegedly submitted several false and fraudulent IRS documents. Among the false forms the...

Nine Pharmacists Charged After Allegedly Defrauding Medicare, Medicaid, BCBS Of $12.1 Million

On Behalf of Brunvand, Wise & Farinella Law Group | Jun 23, 2020 | Government Fraud

A handful of pharmacists in the Midwest are facing federal charges of health care fraud after investigators say they participated in a scheme to defraud Medicare of $12.1 million in false claims.Nine individuals from Ohio and Detroit were charged last week in three separate indictments. Each of the defendants was a licensed pharmacist or an owner of a pharmacy in Michigan or Ohio.Per investigators, the nine conspired to bill Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) for prescription medications that were not actually purchased nor dispensed to other individuals. The defendants...

Odessa Man Sentenced To 15 Months In Federal Prison For Mortgage Fraud That Cost Banks Over $5 Million

On Behalf of Brunvand, Wise & Farinella Law Group | Jun 22, 2020 | Government Fraud

An Odessa mortgage broker was sentenced to 15 months in Federal prison after pleading guilty to a mortgage scheme that allegedly cost local banks of over $5 million.The 41-year-old man entered his guilty plea last fall alongside a Miami Beach developer to making false statements to financial institutions on mortgage loan applications.According to investigators, the defendants began paying down payments for purchasers of condominiums in Temple Terrace in 2006 and claiming to banks that the buyers paid the down payments themselves, making them look to be a better credit risk than they actually...

Three Individuals Indicted In Alleged Scheme To Defraud Medicare, TRICARE Of Over $180 Million

On Behalf of Brunvand, Wise & Farinella Law Group | Jun 18, 2020 | Government Fraud

A trio of individuals are facing Federal felony charges on allegations by investigators that they were involved in schemes to defraud Medicare, TRICARE, and private insurance companies and launder the proceeds of the fraudulent activity. Per investigators, beginning in early 2011 the three men began several efforts at defrauding Medicare and TRICARE by allegedly fraudulently formulating and shipping compounded medicines, then billing insurance providers for the same. Private insurers were allegedly victimized by the trio, accounting for over $13 million of the fraud charged against them. The...

California Man Facing Federal Securities Fraud Charges After Allegedly Marketing Ineffective COVID-19 Test Kits

On Behalf of Brunvand, Wise & Farinella Law Group | Jun 16, 2020 | COVID-19

A California man is facing Federal health care fraud charges after investigators say he submitted tens of millions of false claims for allergy and COVID-19 testing kits to Medicare.Federal prosecutors say the 57-year-old man was the president of a medical tech firm in Northern California that alleged itself to be the only laboratory on Earth that offers "microarray technology" to test for and diagnose allergies and coronavirus infection simply by testing a single drop of blood.Investigators say the company began making the claim regarding allergy testing in 2018 at about the same time they...

St. Pete Man Charged With Felony Murder After Home Invasion Turns Deadly

On Behalf of Brunvand, Wise & Farinella Law Group | Jun 15, 2020 | Capital Murder

A St. Petersburg man is facing homicide charges after police say he gunned down a USF student in a robbery that turned fatal. According to authorities, the 19-year-old was one of three men involved in the slaying, which took place on May 27. The victim was a 22-year-old psychology major at USF St. Petersburg and was visiting friends in an apartment west of downtown. Witnesses say the victim was one of three individuals in the apartment at the time when a shirtless man whom police later identified as the defendant asked to see another man within the dwelling. The defendant then allegedly left...

Four Florida Men Charged With Defrauding TRICARE Of $42 Million In Alleged Compounding Conspiracy

On Behalf of Brunvand, Wise & Farinella Law Group | Jun 12, 2020 | Government Fraud

A quartet of Florida men are facing Federal fraud charges after investigators say they orchestrated and operated an illegal kickback scheme for compounded drugs. The four men, who range in age from 38 to 57, allegedly put together the operation, which consisted of several compounding pharmacies in Florida, to target TRICARE beneficiaries and their prescriptions. Investigators say the drug orders they filled were the result of millions of dollars in kickbacks to the doctors prescribing them, many of which were not medically necessary. According to investigators, the conspiracy began in late...

Florida’s fentanyl crackdown: What you should know

On Behalf of Brunvand, Wise & Farinella Law Group | Jun 8, 2020 | Drug Charges

A decade ago, few members of the public were familiar with fentanyl - the powerful prescription drug used to help manage severe pain. That has changed. Not only is fentanyl a household term, the painkiller itself has become the target of intense scrutiny from law enforcement and prosecutors across the nation. Here in Florida, the number of fentanyl-related overdoses has been on the rise. In response, state officials have gone out of their way to give prosecutors more options when filing charges in fentanyl-related cases. Recent changes to state laws In recent years, the state's Legislature...

Quadruple-Murder Suspect Seeks Four Trials In 2017 Slayings

On Behalf of Brunvand, Wise & Farinella Law Group | Jun 8, 2020 | Capital Murder

Lawyers for a Tampa man have asked that the four murder charges he's facing be prosecuted as four separate trials instead of in one set of proceedings. Reasoning that the four charges arose from four separate episodes, the lawyers representing the 27-year-old man noted the possibility that facts and opinions distinct to one episode are likely to bleed over into jurors' considerations regarding the other three incidents. The defendant is facing four first-degree murder charges arising from a series of slayings allegedly conducted by the defendant over the course of several weeks in 2017....