Former Miami Beach health center CEO enters agreement with state

The former CEO of the Miami Beach Community Health Center, who has pleaded guilty to federal charges of stealing $6 million from the federally funded facility for the poor and uninsured, entered Wednesday into a cooperative agreement with state prosecutors on additional charges.

Kathryn Abbate was criminally charged in February with participating in an organized scheme to defraud and first-degree grand theft resulting from an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General and state prosecutors, according to an OIG memo released Wednesday. The investigation focuses on the embezzlement and unauthorized compensation of over $7 million from the health center by Abbate and others.

Under the agreement, the state will likely drop the charges once Abbate completes her agreement. The state can re-file the charges if she fails to cooperate. Abbate’s sentence in U.S. District Court is pending.

Get the Miami Herald Afternoon Update
VIA EMAIL

Join the
Discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere on the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

The Miami Herald uses Facebook's commenting system. You need to log in with a Facebook account in order to comment. If you have questions about commenting with your Facebook account, click here.

Have a news tip? You can send it anonymously. Click here to send us your tip - or - consider joining the Public Insight Network and become a source for The Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald.