FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

Transcription

1 FD-302 (Rev ) - 1 of 7 - FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION OFFICIAL RECORD Documentparticipantshavedigitalysigned. Al signatures have been verified by a certified FBI information system. Date of entry 06/24/2013 NELSON FELIX MARTINEZ TORRES (MARTINEZ), date of birth 05/11/1966, Social Security Account Number , was interviewed at the United States (U.S.) Federal Courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida. Assisting with the interview were Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigative (IRS-CI) Special Agent (SA) Pam Martin and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Investigative Operations Analyst Luz Delgado. Present during the interview were Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Marie Villafana, MARTINEZ' attorney, Richard Serafini, and his Spanish translator, Pilar Fernandez. FBI Linguist Cindy Boyer translated the interview from MARTINEZ' native language of Spanish. After being advised of the official identities of the interviewing agents and the nature of the interview, MARTINEZ provided the following information: Prior to the interview MARTINEZ had the opportunity to review the Kastigar Letter with his attorney. Both signed a copy of the letter and provided it to the interviewing agents. MARTINEZ is from Villa Clara, Cuba. He was educated through the sixth grade and worked in agriculture. On February 6, 2002 he came to the U.S. on a boat. He is not a U.S. citizen. Since arriving in the U.S. he has always lived in West Palm Beach. MARTINEZ has worked in construction and was most recently working as an air conditioning repairman in Miami Beach. He has not received any education since moving from Cuba. MARTINEZ originally learned he could earn money for staging car accidents from LUIS IVAN. DAVIEL CASTRO, the son of MARTINEZ' friend, BRUNO NAPOLES, introduced MARTINEZ to LUIS IVAN. At the time of their introduction, LUIS IVAN owned FEBRES, a clinic on Forest Hill Boulevard and Florida Mango Road. LUIS IVAN explained to MARTINEZ that he paid accident patients anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000 for attending his clinic after an accident. The payments varied based on the insurance company. For example, companies like State Farm, All State, Progressive and GEICO paid claims quickly, so patients insured by these companies were paid $3,000. Patients insured by companies like Ocean Harbor and Seminole were only paid $2,000 because these companies put up a fight before paying claims. They investigated claims and required patients to give depositions. If a patient had a "bad" insurance company LUIS IVAN instructed them to change companies before staging an accident. MARTINEZ was insured by Ocean Harbor Investigation on 06/20/2013 at West Palm Beach, Florida, United States (In Person) File # Date drafted 06/20/2013 by WILLIAM STEWART, SHAUN P. O'NEILL This document contains neither recommendations nor conclusions of the FBI. It is the property of the FBI and is loaned to your agency; it and its contents are not to be distributed outside your agency.

2 Continuation of FD-302 of Interview of Nelson Felix Martinez Torres, On 06/20/2013, Page 2 of 7 companies before staging an accident. MARTINEZ was insured by Ocean Harbor when he originally met LUIS IVAN; therefore he was only paid $2,000 for his accident. DAGOBERTO was a friend of LUIS IVAN. He arranged the first staged accident MARTINEZ participated in. DAGOBERTO determined the location of the accident and drove MARTINEZ to the scene. There DAGOBERTO introduced MARTINEZ to the two participants in the other vehicle. He also tried to place an unknown female inside the car with MARTINEZ but MARTINEZ refused. The staged crash occurred at night near Parker Avenue in West Palm Beach. MARTINEZ was alone in his vehicle when he intentionally rear-ended the participants in the other car. MARTINEZ received an extra $500 for being the at fault driver, also known as the "macho" (male) or the "pantalones" (slacks). The participants in the other vehicle are commonly referred to as the "hembra" (female) or the "saya" (skirt). MARTINEZ explained that recruiters warned staged accident participants in opposing vehicles not to call each because that information appeared in phone records and could be used to show an accident was pre-arranged. After an accident, participants were instructed to visit a clinic for treatment. At the clinic, someone, usually the licensed massage therapist (LMT), instructed the patient to exaggerate his or her injuries and claim a pain level of nine out of ten when examined by the doctor. The doctor would evaluate the patient and initially prescribe therapy, usually five days per week for four weeks. During the first visit, the LMT gave the patient treatment, not because they needed it, but so they could explain the treatment they supposedly received to an insurance company if ever questioned. Next the patient pre-signed 40 to 45 therapy sheets documenting treatment that never occurred. The patient only returned to the clinic to see the doctor for subsequent reevaluations, which occurred three times. During these visits, the patients were again instructed to claim pain, but at lower levels than earlier visits. After MARTINEZ' first crash he went to FEBRES by himself and provided the police report to the receptionist. The LMT, nicknamed "LA CHINA", prepared MARTINEZ on what to tell the doctor regarding his pain. Aside from LA CHINA, a slightly overweight female with blond hair also worked at FEBRES as an LMT. MARTINEZ went on to see DR. LAZARO RODRIGUEZ for an exam that lasted between 15 and 20 minutes. During the exam, RODRIGUEZ took MARTINEZ' blood pressure, asked about the car accident and asked where MARTINEZ felt pain. He then sent MARTINEZ for treatment with LA CHINA, who had MARTINEZ sign multiple forms. When MARTINEZ was finished with his visit, LUIS IVAN called him into his office and paid him in cash. MARTINEZ never went back to FEBRES again for treatment with an LMT. He did return

3 Continuation of FD-302 of Interview of Nelson Felix Martinez Torres, On 06/20/2013, Page 3 of 7 never went back to FEBRES again for treatment with an LMT. He did return to the clinic for three additional exams with the doctor; once more with RODRIGUEZ and twice with a different doctor. As part of MARTINEZ initial exam, RODRIGUEZ filled out a prescription for X-Rays, which were done about a week later at VLADIMIR s and VIGOA s clinic on Congress Avenue and Summit Boulevard. LUIS IVAN was friends with VLADIMIR and VIGOA. MARTINEZ has seen photos with the three of them hanging out together. MARTINEZ has been involved in approximately three staged car accidents and two real accidents. During one staged accident he had an unknown female in his car at the time of the crash. LUIS IVAN found this female. Another accident that involved MARTINEZ, CASTRO and MONTIEL was real. The three of them had been working near Blue Heron Boulevard when a truck in front of MARTINEZ stopped suddenly, causing a rear-end collision. Nobody was injured as a result of the crash; however CASTRO still went to LUIS th IVAN s clinic at Congress Avenue and 10 Avenue afterward. CASTRO asked MARTINEZ to attend the clinic but MARTINEZ refused as he had just finished treatment from a different accident approximately three to four months earlier. Another real crash occurred after MARTINEZ, his wife YANET HERNANDEZ, and their young child HARRY NELSON MARTINEZ, were driving home from visiting MONTIEL in the Palm Beach County Jail. MARTINEZ had Seminole insurance at the time. After the accident he and HERNANDEZ attended th GERARDO SARDINAS clinic, which was located on 10 Avenue near a cemetery. MARTINEZ and HERNANDEZ received $2,000 after seeing the doctor and another $2,000 when treatment was complete. Their child did not attend the clinic. After MARTINEZ and LUIS IVAN developed a friendship, LUIS IVAN asked MARTINEZ to begin cashing clinic checks. LUIS IVAN offered MARTINEZ 10% of each check he cashed. At year end, LUIS IVAN tallied the checks paid to MARTINEZ and reported the amount as income paid to MARTINEZ, an alleged clinic employee. MARTINEZ was responsible for reporting this to the IRS as earned income. LUIS IVAN also paid other individuals, to include VIGOA, ARIEL LNU, and REINALDO MARICHAL, a 10% commission for falsely claiming income earned from the clinic. LUIS IVAN and these individuals would agree upon an income amount to report and an employee file would be created to substantiate the existence of the employee. LUIS IVAN paid individuals 10% of the total income they were willing to claim. When cashing checks for LUIS IVAN, MARTINEZ generally went to the bank alone. He returned the cash to LUIS IVAN, MARIA TESTA or LA CHINA and received his 10% kickback in cash. MARTINEZ family also began cashing

4 Continuation of FD-302 of Interview of Nelson Felix Martinez Torres, On 06/20/2013, Page 4 of 7 received his 10% kickback in cash. MARTINEZ family also began cashing checks because they too were patients who eventually became friends with LUIS IVAN. At some point RODRIGUEZ approached MARTINEZ and offered to share a portion of the profits if MARTINEZ agreed to open PROGRESSIVE REHAB in MARTINEZ name. MARTINEZ agreed, but could not open the clinic because he was a convicted felon. RODRIGUEZ and MARTINEZ then tried putting the clinic in NOELIA MARICHAL s name, but in the end the clinic was opened in RODRIGUEZ name. In addition to PROGRESSIVE, RODRIGUEZ owned four to five other clinics. RODRIGUEZ has a friend named FELIPE FRENEDA or FRANCEDA (FELIPE) who loans him money to open clinics. FELIPE lives in West Palm Beach. He and RODRIGUEZ found the office space for PROGRESSIVE. MARTINEZ heard the two of them speak to each other in English. RODRIGUEZ paid MARTINEZ $100 per day to run PROGRESSIVE. He paid MARTINEZ in cash or authorized MARTINEZ to make ATM withdrawals to receive his salary. MARTINEZ responsibilities included making runs to and from the post office, handling banking activity and managing the girls who worked in the office. MARTINEZ was at PROGRESSIVE about 90% of the time is was open. LISANDRA ORTIZ was the receptionist and INGE BAUMERT was the LMT. ORTIZ was responsible for new patient intake, prepping patient files, and billing. BAUMERT was previously arrested. RODRIGUEZ worked at the clinic one day per week, usually on Thursdays or Fridays. PROGRESSIVE operated the same way as LUIS IVAN s clinics. CASTRO and TONY LNU, a short stocky male with light-colored eyes, recruited patients and organized accidents for PROGRESSIVE. Because RODRIGUEZ did not want to pay the recruiters himself, he gave the money to MARTINEZ to make the payments. VIGOA sent patients from his clinic to PROGRESSIVE. As part of the scheme participants from either car were never sent to the same clinic because it would appear suspicious. PROGRESSIVE banked with Regions, Wachovia and PNC banks. RODRIGUEZ put HERNANDEZ on the Regions account and MARTINEZ on the other accounts. RODRIGUEZ set up accounts with multiple banks because he did not want them detecting the various cash withdrawals being made from the clinic accounts. PROGRESSIVE checks were never cashed in amounts higher than $10,000. It was MARTINEZ' understanding that it was illegal in the U.S. to withdrawal cash in amounts higher than $10,000. Occasionally bank staff asked MARTINEZ why he was withdrawing so much money from the clinic account. RODRIGUEZ instructed MARTINEZ who to make checks out to, and MARTINEZ generally signed checks on Fridays. FELIPE was one of the individuals who RODRIGUEZ instructed MARTINEZ to make checks out to. RODRIGUEZ withdrew a weekly salary of $1,600 to show he was earning a

5 Continuation of FD-302 of Interview of Nelson Felix Martinez Torres, On 06/20/2013, Page 5 of 7 RODRIGUEZ withdrew a weekly salary of $1,600 to show he was earning a legitimate income. When he could not attend the clinic himself he paid other doctors to fill in for him. One doctor was a short American male with acne marks on his face (UNSUB 1). MARTINEZ saw this individual in court after his recent arrest. UNSUB 1 would attend PROGRESSIVE on Thursdays between 4:00PM and 7:00PM. MARTINEZ observed UNSUB 1 pre-sign evaluations without actually seeing the patients on two to three occasions. After pre-signing the evaluation, UNSUB 1 would give the file to the LMT and tell her to instruct the patients to sign the forms and claim they saw the doctor if ever asked. MARTINEZ asked UNSUB 1 about this practice. UNSUB 1 did not speak Spanish. Most patients did, so the LMT translated. In addition to UNSUB 1, a female doctor (UNSUB 2) filled in for RODRIGUEZ the last two to three weeks the clinic operated. MARTINEZ was a patient at PROGRESSIVE after being involved in an accident. The crash was real but MARTINEZ' aches and pains were not. HERNANDEZ and MARICHAL were in the car with MARTINEZ. After the accident MARTINEZ called RODRIGUEZ, who offered him $9,000 for him and his family to attend PROGRESSIVE. RODRIGUEZ did not pay MARTINEZ directly; instead he authorized MARTINEZ to withdrawal $9,000 from the PROGRESSIVE account. MARTINEZ was shown portions of his PROGRESSIVE patient file and he verified his signatures. He only signed one form per day instead of signing the entire packet because he worked at the clinic every day. UNSUB 2 saw MARTINEZ a couple of times after this accident. MARTINEZ did not recognize the name ELISA KLINGER. When setting up PROGRESSIVE, RODRIGUEZ told MARTINEZ to talk to ALEIDA, who had an X-Ray machine in a clinic across the hall from LUIS IVAN's clinic. ALEIDA explained to MARTINEZ that her clinic could X-Ray PROGRESSIVE patients and split the claims proceeds with MARTINEZ. ALEIDA explained that she first took 10% of the billing to cover costs. ALEIDA paid MARTINEZ in cash on three to four occasions. ALEIDA called MARTINEZ whenever the money was ready for pick-up. RODRIGUEZ instructed MARTINEZ to use the money for clinic expenses. MARTINEZ never saw any doctor inside of ALEIDA's clinic. He did once see ELIAS inside her clinic. PROGRESSIVE was open for four to five months and then insurance investigators began showing up so it closed. MARTINEZ does not know what happened to the patient files. ARIEL LNU owned a clinic on Military, close to 45th Street. MARTINEZ only saw ARIEL one time. SARDINAS recommended a Miami-based attorney to MARTINEZ who could help PROGRESSIVE fight insurance claims. MARTINEZ had no reason to believe this attorney knew of the fraud.

6 Continuation of FD-302 of Interview of Nelson Felix Martinez Torres, On 06/20/2013, Page 6 of 7 attorney knew of the fraud. MARTINEZ was shown a photograph array and was asked to identify anyone he recognized. He stated the following: Photograph 18 (AURELIANO DIAZ): Looks like DAGOBRETO, but HERNANDEZ was not 100% certain. Photograph 35 (OLINDA RODRIGUEZ): "LA CHINA." Photograph 40 (OSCAR LUIS FRANCO PADRON): He s in prison. He used to hang out with VLADIMIR and VIGOA. Photograph 42 (DAGOBERTO MILIAN LOPEZ): HERNANDEZ believes this is DAGOBERTO, not the individual pictured in Photograph 18. Photograph 48 (LAZARO VIGOA): VIGOA. Photograph 49 (RAFAEL RODRIGUEZ PLACENCIA): RAFAEL. He owned a truck parking lot where one of MARTINEZ friends parked his truck. RAFAEL had a clinic but MARTINEZ did not have any dealings with his clinic. Photograph 53 (MARIA MOLINA): CARI. She and her husband, OBELIO, owned a clinic on Congress Avenue. Photograph 72 (GERARDO SARDINAS): GERARDO SARDINAS. He has a son named JORDAN. MARTINEZ never saw JORDAN recruit patients. Photograph 74 (ALEIDA CAPDEVILLA): Looks like ALEIDA, however he was not sure. Photograph 88 (NELSON FELIX MARTINEZ TORRES): Me. Photograph 81 (HELENNE VAZQUEZ): She used to work with ALEIDA as the receptionist. She never gave MARTINEZ money. Whenever ALEIDA paid MARTINEZ, she did so in her office behind a closed door. Photograph 92 (JOEL ANTONIO SIMON RAMIREZ): JOEL. MARTINEZ knows him from the streets. He was LUIS IVAN s top recruiter. JOEL is currently in prison. MARTINEZ cannot recall ever receiving a check from him. Photograph 102 (OSCAR MARTINEZ MONTIEL): OSCAR, his nephew. Photograph 105 (LUIS IVAN HERNANDEZ): LUIS IVAN. Photograph 110 (LAZARO RODRIGUEZ): DR LAZARO RODRIGUEZ. Photograph 116 (NOELIA MARICHAL): NOELIA. Photograph 119 (YANET HERNANDEZ MARICHAL): YANET.

7 Continuation of FD-302 of Interview of Nelson Felix Martinez Torres, On 06/20/2013, Page 7 of 7 Photograph 119 (YANET HERNANDEZ MARICHAL): YANET. Photograph 118 (MARIA TESTA): MARIA TESTA, LUIS IVAN s wife. Photograph 122 (WILFREDO SAUCEDA): Looks familiar. Photograph 130 (DAVID HERNANDEZ): DAVID HERNANDEZ, MARTINEZ father-in-law. Photograph 135 (JULIETA PENA): She looks familiar. Photograph 138 (DAVIEL CASTRO MARTINEZ): DAVIEL CASTRO. Photograph 153 (YERDANY GONZALEZ): YERDANY. MARTINEZ knows him from Cuba. He never saw YERDANY bring patients to the clinics.