MIAMI — In a politically fraught Medicare fraud case, a deal appears to be in the works between the Justice Department and a South Florida health care executive whose 20-year prison sentence was commuted by former President Donald Trump, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the negotiations. Philip Esformes still faces a potential retrial on charges that deadlocked during his first trial.
A retrial of Esformes, who claims that Trump’s commutation protects him against double jeopardy for being charged for the same crime, would likely be an abridged version of his first trial. But at this stage, both sides don’t appear up to a redo of the exhausting original trial.
A plea deal, a more likely scenario that would require approval at the highest level of the Justice Department, is expected to include dropping the six hung counts against Esformes, giving him credit for his four-plus years previously served behind bars, and requiring payment of financial penalties totaling $44 million. He would also have to give up his final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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