FEDS: Former Procurement Director at Broward Health Pleads Guilty to Bribery Conspiracy

MIAMI, FL – A former procurement director at Broward Health pled guilty Tuesday, June 1, in federal district court in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to a federal conspiracy charge, admitting that he accepted kickbacks from vendors and a consultant in exchange for awarding them lucrative government contracts.

From 2005 through 2015, Brian Bravo, 46, of Pembroke Pines, Florida worked as the Corporate Procurement Officer and Director of Materials Management of North Broward Hospital District, known in the community as Broward Health. As Procurement Director, one of Bravo’s responsibilities was to decide which vendors would provide goods and services to Broward Health, including health care products, linens, compression sleeves, and printer repairs. During his change of plea hearing, Bravo admitted to accepting approximately $427,000 in kickback payments ($150,000 of it in cash) from two vendors and a consultant for two additional vendors in exchange for awarding them Broward Health goods and services contracts. In 2015, Bravo steered kickback payments to designated bank accounts in order to conceal the illegal activity.     

Bravo’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. on August 12, 2021, before U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal, who sits in Ft. Lauderdale.  Bravo faces up to five years in prison. Juan Antonio Gonzalez, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, announced the guilty plea. FBI Miami investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey N. Kaplan is prosecuting it.