Outliers: Another Medicare fraud bust, another Lamborghini

Roberto Marrero is no stranger to cops-and-robbers drama: the Cuban-born cable TV magnate once played bit roles on shows such as “America's Most Wanted,” “Unsolved Mysteries” and “Miami Vice.” Now it seems his real life may rival those roles.

The Miami Herald reported recently that Marrero and his wife were among the 89 people arrested and accused of Medicare fraud during the latest coast-to-coast takedown of suspects accused of bilking the government program of more than $223 million in a variety of schemes.

The allegations against Marrero, 59, are serious stuff. He is accused of conspiring to fleece Medicare of $15 million by billing for fraudulent home-dialysis services that were “provided” to “patients” who were actually located through a recruiter and agreed to provide their Medicare numbers to the scheme. Marrero's Miami company was called Trust Care Health Services.

Marrero, who owns cable channel Cubana de Television, is pleading not guilty and intends to ask to be allowed to post bail and be released from custody, the Herald reported. Court records say his detention hearing is set for June 11. The government is already working to inventory Marrero's wealth ahead of a potential trial. Outliers notes that Marrero, if guilty, would join a list of healthcare fraudsters who seem to have a taste for Lamborghinis. He apparently had more than one of the high-performance exotics, among other luxury vehicles.

In 2010, prosecutors seized two of the Italian race cars from Ihosvany Marquez, who was accused of buying them with funds intended to benefit HIV and AIDS patients on Medicare. And two years ago, authorities auctioned off a Lamborghini Diablo seized by the Drug Enforcement Agency following the bust of an illegal prescription-drug distribution ring.

Then again, perhaps Marrero's garage was a case of life imitating art? He also owns a Ferrari, a car that was a fixture on one of the shows he claims in his acting credits, “Miami Vice.”

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