LOS ANGELES – A former resident of Aliso Viejo has been found guilty of 15 counts of health care fraud for submitting bills to insurance companies that sought millions of dollars in reimbursement for tests and services that were never performed.

Michael Mirando, 40, who currently resides in Portland, Oregon, was found guilty yesterday by a federal jury that needed to deliberate for less than half an hour to reach its verdict after a weeklong trial.

Mirando was an owner of Holter Labs, which provided cardiac monitoring services using an ambulatory electrocardiography device known as a Holter monitor. The evidence presented during the trial in United States District Court showed that Mirando engaged in a fraud scheme in which he was responsible for the submission of millions of dollars in claims for services that were never performed.

Holter Labs provided the Holter monitor to physicians, who prescribed the devices to patients to monitor their heart rates for one to two days. Mirando then billed the patients' insurance companies for the prescribed 24- or 48-hour tests, but he also submitted bills for services never ordered – such as 30-day tests – and for services the device could not perform – such as brain scans and oxygen studies.

From 2005 through 2016, Mirando submitted tens of thousands of claims to dozens of private health insurance companies. Mirando submitted bills that sought approximately $10 million, which included $7 million for services never performed and another $1 million for duplicate dates of services. The victim health insurance companies paid at least $2.5 million on these fraudulent claims.

After being free on bond since he was charged in this case last year, Mirando was remanded into custody on the first day of his trial after having contact with potential jurors in the case. After learning that Mirando spoke with two potential jurors outside of the courtroom, United States District Judge Percy Anderson revoked the defendant's bond after finding that he engaged in jury tampering and had attempted to obstruct justice. At the conclusion of the trial, Judge Anderson released Mirando on a $1 million bond and ordered him placed under home detention.

Mirando is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Anderson on August 21, at which time the defendant will face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for each of the 15 counts of health care fraud.

Following his conviction yesterday, Mirando signed a stipulation in which he admitted that he purchased his house in Portland with proceeds generated by the fraud scheme. As a result, that residence could be the subject of a forfeiture action.

The case against Mirando was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Michael G. Freedman and Katherine A. Rykken of the General Crimes Section.

USAO – California, Central Updated May 3, 2017

Central District of California DOJ / 17-093 / May 02, 2017