Pembroke Pines research clinic tied to $824,000 fraud scheme, feds say
Four South Floridians are facing federal wire fraud charges after allegedly falsifying clinical trial data for asthma medication at a Pembroke Pines medical research center, according to the Department of Justice.
The alleged fraudsters include a medical doctor and three staff members of the Pines Care Research Center, located at 1460 S. Palm Ave., the federal agency announced in a June 10 news release.
Those accused: :
- Dr. Jaynier Moya, 49, of Southwest Ranches; co-owner and principal investigator
- Luis Montano, 55, of Hialeah; clinical research coordinator
- Yuniarka Garcia, 41, of Plantation; clinical research coordinator
- Alexandra Olivera, 38, of Hialeah; clinical research coordinator
Investigators say the scheme, which involved two trials for an investigational drug meant to treat asthma attacks, began around February 2019 and continued through 2022, according to Olivera’s criminal information.
Both studies were sponsored by an unnamed pharmaceutical company based in Guernsey, an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy, France, and required the researchers find several subjects who qualified as asthmatic to test the drugs.
For each subject who completed the trial, the pharmaceutical company would pay anywhere from $11,418 to $13,381, court documents show, including compensation for those who failed screening.
According to the DOJ, the researchers falsely reported that the subjects took the medications and underwent testing, allegedly using identification documents from real people to create fake records.
Olivera’s criminal information specifies that the Pines Care Research Center lied about testing 11 of 14 screened individuals for one trial and 59 of 69 individuals for the second trial, leading the study’s sponsor to shell out approximately $824,223.
Moya, Montano and Garcia are charged with three counts of substantive wire fraud as well as conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Olivera, who worked at PCRC from 2016 to 2020, is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud separately.
“If convicted, each defendant faces a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud,” the DOJ’s news release says.
Court records show Moya, Montano and Garcia were arrested on June 10. All three were released the next day — Montano and Garcia on a $900,000 personal surety bond and Moya on a $1.5 million personal surety bond.
