Another Florida ex-Merrill Lynch advisor, guilty of Medicare fraud, draws scrutiny

Merrill Lynch is facing legal fallout from a second Florida financial advisor in recent months for engaging in criminal activity.

InvestmentNews reported during the summer that a former Merrill Lynch financial advisor, Isaiah T. Williams, was arrested in June for his alleged involvement in the theft of almost $2.6 million from Reshad Jones, a one-time Miami Dolphins safety.

A few weeks later, another former Merrill Lynch advisor, Lino “Joe” Gutierrez, was sentenced to 17 years and six months in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $5.6 million in restitution for his role in a scheme to defraud Medicare. Gutierrez, 59, was sentenced July 25, in federal court in Tampa.

Gutierrez in April was found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to commit healthcare and wire fraud, conspiracy to violate the federal anti-kickback statute, five substantive counts of health care fraud, and four substantive counts of payment of kickbacks in connection with a heath care program.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Gutierrez and his co-conspirators owned and operated two durable medical equipment companies that collectively billed Medicare more than $10.9 million for medically unnecessary equipment, of which more than $5 million was paid to Gutierrez and his co-conspirators.

“Merrill Lynch fired Gutierrez earlier this year, and he had been on unpaid leave since September 2023,” a company spokesperson said Monday morning.

According to his BrokerCheck profile, Guitierrez was based in Stuart, which is north of West Palm on the state’s Atlantic coast. A 16-year veteran of the securities industry, he worked there for Merrill Lynch starting in 2017 before being fired this year.

“Guitierrez was making more money with his kickback scheme than working at Merrill Lynch, and he has to pay back more than $5 million,” said Kristian Kraszewski, a plaintiff’s attorney representing at least two families in the matter.

One is seeking $1 million in damages in a FINRA arbitration claim filed last year against Merrill Lynch, claiming that the financial advisor did not act in the client’s best interest. Kraszewski filed a second FINRA arbitration complaint last week against the firm for clients of Guitierrez, alleging  negligence, violation of industry rules and other claims.

From October 2018 to April 2019, Gutierrez conspired with others to steal millions of dollars from Medicare by creating sham companies that shipped braces to Medicare beneficiaries —some of whom co-conspirators identified through telemarketing and others whose personal identifying information conspirators stole to submit fraudulent Medicare claims, according to the Department of Justice.

“Gutierrez and his conspirators paid kickbacks to other companies in exchange for signed doctors’ orders,” according to the Department of Justice. “These companies used overseas call centers to solicit patients and fraudulent telemedicine companies to procure fake prescriptions for braces for Medicare beneficiaries.”