Lake Park sober home operators charged in $2M kickback, money laundering scheme
LAKE PARK, Fla. (CBS12) — A mother and her two sons from Boca Raton are facing multiple criminal charges in connection to a multi-million dollar kickback scheme around an addiction treatment center in Lake Park.
The State Attorney's Office arrested Mimi Joy Bieda, 61; Levi Chaim Bieda, 36; and David Israel Bieda, 33. They operate a sober home called Academy Health Solutions, or AHS.
According to court records, all three are charged with two counts of fraud for violating the patient brokering law involving 20 or more patients, and with money laundering of $100,000 or more.
Investigators said the three are engaged in patient brokering and money laundering activities in Palm Beach and Martin Counties, as well as other areas of South Florida and the United States.
Court documents show the family engaged in two patient brokering schemes with their sober home.
The first investigation involved Jayde Laboratories, LLC. Investigators said AHS would send patients to Jayde for urinalysis testing. Quicken Results, LLC., a second company managed by David Bieda, according to records, acquired a 20 percent ownership interest in Jayde. But investigators said Quicken received "significantly more than 20 percent of the profits."
Investigators said the family received more than $431,000 for the referral of patients between July 2017 through September 2018.
The second investigation involved a lab management company called Nexus Biologix, which listed David Bieda as the registered agent. Bieda was also listed as a registered agent to a clinical laboratory called District Diagnostics, LLC., court records show.
Adrian Rogers, the principal owner of Jayde, was arrested in February of 2019 on six counts of patient brokering and one count of conspiracy to commit patient brokering. According to court documents, he told investigators AHS moved its urinalysis business from Jayde to District Diagnostics in 2018.
Prosecutors claim the Biedas received more than $1.7 million in kickbacks while referring patients from District Diagnostics to Quicken Results.
The family is also accused of money laundering more than $100,000 for "conducting or attempting to conduct financial transactions which, in fact, involve the proceeds of specified unlawful activity," court records show.
All three are due in court Thursday morning.
