Two Miami-Dade pharmacy owners charged with stealing $8 million from drug companies
Two owners of 15 pharmacies in Miami-Dade County have been charged with stealing more than $8 million from drug-coupon programs provided by pharmaceutical companies, according to a new indictment.
William Clero, 44, and Cesar Armando Perez Amador, 51, both of Miami-Dade, are accused of submitting false claims to the companies’ cost-savings programs by fabricating prescriptions for fictitious patients who didn’t receive the drugs from their pharmacies, the indictment says.
Moreover, Clero and Perez used nominee owners to disguise their ownership of the pharmacies and spent the illicit drug-coupon reimbursements on two Miami-Dade real estate properties and four vehicles, including a 2019 Cadillac Escalade, court records show.
Clero and Perez will be arraigned on Wednesday and next Monday, respectively, on charges of wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies dating back at least five years.
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Clero, who had received a 10-year probationary sentence on a drug-related offense in Miami-Dade Circuit Court in 2015, also has a bond hearing on Wednesday. His lawyer, the Miami public defender’s office, could not be reached for comment.
Perez was granted a $300,000 bond after his arrest last week. His defense attorneys, Frank Quintero and Juan Broche, declined to comment Monday because the case is new and no evidence has been provided yet by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The case, prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aimee Jimenez, was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations.
