Relative s Miami business helped former Broward Health director get kickbacks, feds say David J. Neal, The Miami Herald
Jan. 14 A former director of Broward Health used his position as an equipment buyer to request kickbacks that included World Cup tickets and vacations to Walt Disney World, the Bahamas and Cancun, federal prosecutors say.
The indictment of Brian Bravo, a 46-year-old Pembroke Pines man who made his first appearance in Fort Lauderdale federal court last Friday, charges him with two counts of bribery, one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, one count of extortion and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Ex-Broward Health exec charged with bribery, extortion, money laundering
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The North Broward Hospital District has agreed to pay the government $69.5 million to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by engaging in improper financial relationships with referring physicians, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A former Broward Health purchasing director was in federal court Friday and stands accused of giving lucrative government contracts to vendors in exchange for bribes, prosecutors say.
Brian Bravo, 46, is also accused of directing bribe money to various bank accounts in an attempt to conceal the crimes.
Bravo, of Pembroke Pines, worked as the hospital system’s corporate procurement officer and director of materials management for about a decade.
By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org
Five years after tax-supported Broward Health was rocked by a costly kickback scandal and news the FBI was investigating alleged corruption in the hospital network’s purchasing department, the government has made its first arrest in the case.
Federal court records state that Brian Bravo, Broward Health’s corporate procurement officer and director of materials management from 2005-2015, was indicted quietly on Nov. 19 by a federal grand jury on five counts of bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery and money laundering, and extortion under color of official right. The indictment was made public following Bravo’s arraignment on Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick M. Hunt.
Former Broward Health purchasing executive Brian Bravo faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted of steering plum contracts to his accomplices in a kickback scheme that netted him $600,000, vacations to Cancun and the Bahamas, and even a pair of World Cup tickets, prosecutors say.