A federal judge in Miami has revoked the U.S. citizenship of a Hialeah woman after determining she unlawfully obtained it by concealing her role in a multimillion-dollar health care fraud scheme, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida issued an order on March 24 stripping Mirelys Cabrera Diaz, a native of Cuba, of the naturalization she received in 2017. The court found she was ineligible for citizenship because she committed criminal acts before becoming a U.S. citizen that disqualified her from meeting the legal requirements.
According to a DOJ press release, Cabrera Diaz was convicted in 2019 of conspiring to commit health care fraud. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to more than two years in prison and ordered to pay more than $6 million in restitution.
As part of her plea, prosecutors said Cabrera Diaz admitted she participated in the scheme years before she became a citizen.
Health care fraud scheme involved kickbacks, fraudulent prescriptions
Between August 2011 and March 2014, she and others paid kickbacks to patient recruiters in exchange for fraudulent prescriptions tied to the pharmacy where she worked.
She also admitted to keeping records of payments owed to recruiters and knowing the pharmacy submitted false reimbursement claims to the Medicare Part D program. The federal government ultimately paid more than $6 million for prescription drugs that were never dispensed, according to the DOJ.
In its ruling, the court said Cabrera Diaz failed to demonstrate “good moral character,” a key requirement for naturalization that applies during the five years leading up to a citizenship application through the oath of allegiance, authorities said.
The judge found her involvement in the fraud scheme during that period undermined her eligibility and that there were no mitigating circumstances to excuse her conduct.
The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and prosecuted by the Justice Department’s Office of Immigration Litigation.
