SANTO DOMINGO.- The Benítezes used Dominican nationals as third parties to transfere dollars to bank accounts, but brought compatriots into their companies as advisers, mostly relatives, as their business network encompassed investments from the capital to the east coast. 

Newspaper Diario Libre reports, quoting Alejandro Dipré, liaison with the Federal Bureau of Investigaciones (FBI), that the probe of the Cuban brothers Carlos, Jose and Luis Benitez, found that the accused of defrauding the U.S. Medicare system out of US$110 million, used the money in unprecedented investments in the country.

"For those transfers they used, generally, US$1,000 to open the account, of those, 200 or 300 dollars remained in the account to make the transfers and the rest were given to the citizens whom they used," Dipré said, with the excuse that they didn’t have documents to receive money transferences, of which they made dozens.

"Generally, they received several amounts of money, but the Benítez brothers very few times did transferes receiving them themselves," the official said to Diario Libre, adding that they used so many people that they still don’t have a total amount. "Every week we found somebody new that has received transfers for the Benítez."

He said the Dominican authorities as well as the FBI in Miami have had to work “arduously in the case,” open since January

Yesterday RD$300,000 in cash was seized in Higüey, in possesion of relatives  of the Benítez brothers.

Three luxury vehicle and a residence were also confiscated in an operation led by the Justice Ministry’s Anti-laundering Unit chief German Miranda.