FEDS: Former Procurement Director at Broward Health Charged With Bribery, Extortion, and Money Laundering

MIAMI, FL – On Friday, the former Procurement Director for Broward Health appeared in Ft. Lauderdale federal court to face charges accusing him of awarding lucrative government contracts to vendors in exchange for bribes and of trying to conceal his crimes by directing the bribe money to various bank accounts.  

For about 10 years, Brian Bravo, 46, of Pembroke Pines, Florida, worked as the Corporate Procurement Officer and Director of Materials Management for the North Broward Hospital District, known in the community as Broward Health. According to the five-count indictment, from 2008 to 2015, Bravo engaged in a kickback scheme with vendors that provided products and services to Broward Health, including health care products, linens, compression sleeves, and printer repairs. During that time, two of the vendors and a consultant for two other vendors made illegal kickback payments totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars to Bravo in order to secure tens of millions of dollars of business from Broward Health, says the indictment. In 2015, Bravo directed the vendors to pay the bribes to two companies that Bravo controlled in order to hide the unlawful nature of the scheme, according to the indictment.

Bravo had his initial appearance and arraignment hearings on Friday before Magistrate Judge Patrick M. Hunt, who sits in Ft. Lauderdale. Southern District of Florida U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan and FBI Miami Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro made the announcement. FBI Miami investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey N. Kaplan is prosecuting it. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daren Grove is handling asset forfeiture. 

Related court documents and information are available on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 20-cr-60125.