‘This case represents one of the most brazen and egregious cases of home health Medicaid fraud ever seen in this district [N Carolina].’
(US Attorney Robert J. Higdon Jr)
The UK Daily Mail, masters of such news, has the disgusting story replete with photos to make your head explode and a juicy title published hereon Wednesday.
Thanks to Judy for spotting it as I am just home from a happy family duty and am farther behind than usual with reading and writing.
‘Gluttonous’ Vegas couple ‘stole identities of dead people to defraud Medicaid of $13m’ which they blew on a private jet, luxury cars, designer clothes and vacations which they bragged about in tacky online videos
A Las Vegas couple have been accused of stealing $13million from Medicaid to fund a lavish lifestyle that included a private jet, luxury cars, jewelry and clothes.
Latisha and Timothy Harron bought expensive cars, real estate, a private jet and pricey vacations. They also bought gym equipment which clearly did not benefit Latisha, by ripping off US taxpayers!
Latisha and Timothy Mark Harron worked together to carry out a ‘massive fraud’ on the North Carolina Medicaid program, according to a press release from the Department of Justice issued on Wednesday.
The couple, who were arrested on Wednesday, allegedly did this by billing the government for what the Department described as ‘fictitious home services’.
They are accused of spending Medicaid money on a British Aerospace Bae 125-800Acosting private jet that cost $900,000, ‘thousands of dollars of gym equipment’ and properties in North Carolina.
‘Stealing taxpayer money from a health care program designed to care for the poor and disabled just to bankroll a private jet and other luxury products – as alleged in this case – is reprehensible,’ said Special Agent in Charge Derrick L. Jackson of the HHS Office of Inspector General.
Here is how they did it!
In 2012, Harron – who also goes by Latisha Reese Holt – moved to Maryland from North Carolina. There, she is said to have continued to bill NC Medicaid as though she was providing services to real North Carolina recipients.
The indictment then alleges that Latisha moved to Las Vegas in May 2017 to live with Timothy Harron. The two got married in 2018.
Timothy had a prior conviction which he concealed on NC Medicaid enrollment documents.
The couple then worked together to fraudulently bill the Medicaid program for more than $10 million between 2017 and 2019, according to the press release.
The DOJ said the couple searched through obituaries to find people in North Carolina who had recently died.
They then allegedly found out whether those people had a Medicaid ID number using an eligibility tool accessible only to Medicaid providers.
They then used it to bill Medicaid for ‘fictitious services’ it claimed to have provided before their deaths, the DOJ said.
Go hereto see the many photos and sickening details of their alleged theft.
It’s a good thing that the couple was so dumb to post photos of their largesse on line giving the Daily Mail such a titillating story.
If found guilty they could spend decades behind bars with surely lots and lots of gym time provided!
As I have said before, the Trump team should be broadcasting these successful busts far and wide as the 2020 election approaches.
What a coincidence! Two stories came my way yesterday, one from Tennessee and the other from Pennsylvania, where whistleblowers filed cases against large companies they said were scamming the US taxpayers and were handsomely rewarded for their good work on our behalf.
Tennessee-Based Health Services Company Settles FCA Case Alleging Medicaid Fraud For $9.5 Million
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced another False Claims Act (“FCA”) settlement centered around a health services company’s practice of providing unnecessary therapy services to patients in order to receive the maximum amount of reimbursement under Medicare. The $9.5 million settlement is with Diversicare Health Services Inc, a Tennessee-based company that provides nursing and rehabilitation services at 74 locations throughout the country. Diversicare’s alleged violations are similar to those in a medicaid fraud case settled by the DOJ for $15.4 million two weeks earlier concerning fraudulent Medicare reimbursements for unnecessary rehabilitation services.
The settlement resolves two separate qui tam FCA lawsuits filed by whistleblowers Mary Haggard and Bryant Fitzmorris, both former Diversicare employees. Ms. Haggard will receive a whistleblower award of roughly $1.4 million, and Mr. Fitzmorris will receive $145,350. The FCA allows private citizens who possess inside information of fraudulently billing against the United States Government to initiate a lawsuit on the Government’s behalf to recover those funds. The citizens, known as qui tam relators, are then entitled to receive a share of any damages that the Government ultimately recovers from the litigation.
Then from Whistleblower News Review (cool, a newsletter for whistleblowers) comes this story from Pennsylvania:
Guardian Elder Care Will Pay $15.4 Million to Resolve Allegations of Medicare Fraud – Whistleblowers Will Receive $2.8 Million
Guardian Elder Care Holdings Inc. and a list of related entities, including Guardian LTC Management and Guardian Rehabilitation Services (collectively, Guardian), have agreed to pay $15.4 million to settle a False Claims Act lawsuit. According to the complaint, Guardian billed government healthcare programs for medically unnecessary services. The company allegedly defrauded both Medicare and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
Pennsylvania-headquartered Guardian operates over 50 nursing facilities in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. According to the whistleblower lawsuit filed by two rehab managers who worked at a Guardian facility in Carlisle, Guardian caused some of its facilities in all three states to bill the government for medically unnecessary services, at the highest level of Medicare reimbursement, solely to maximize profits.
The whistleblower complaint resolved by the $15.4 million settlement was filed under the False Claims Act (“FCA”). Under the FCA, whistleblowers with original information about a fraud can come forward and become eligible for an award ranging between 10 and 30 percent of any resulting recovery. The two whistleblowers in this case, Philippa Krauss and Julie White, will share a $2.8 million award.
How many more companies are ripping off US taxpayers via Medicare and Medicaid fraud? I bet a lot. So if you work for one and suspect fraud, check into becoming a whistleblower—it is the patriotic thing to do!
I have a bunch of posts about other successful whistleblowers,see here.
Some of the headlines call Moses deGraft-Johnson a “Tallahassee doctor,” but African media doesn’t pull punches and refers to him as a “Ghanaian doctor.”
Tallahassee doctor indicted for more than $23M in healthcare fraud
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) — A federal grand jury has indicted a Tallahassee doctor, accusing him of more than $23 million in healthcare fraud.
According to court documents, Moses deGraft-Johnson owned and operated the Heart and Vascular Institute of North Florida since September 2015. Kimberly Austin – his office manager – was also indicted.
Duel citizen Moses deGraft-Johnson benefited the US economy! NOT!
Federal prosecutors said in court Friday afternoon they believe there were more than 3,600 surgeries billed over the last five years, with 85 to 90% of them being fraudulent.
The 58 count indictment, which was unsealed Thursday, alleges deGraft-Johnson defrauded Medicare and Medicaid by billing them for dozens of procedures that he never performed.
A detailed list shows each of the claims was for more than $21,000. Federal prosecutors said in court that the amount of money that was improperly billed reached $23 million.
A later motion alleges deGraft-Johnson’s calendar showed he performed 14 surgeries in one day.
[….]
The indictment contends deGraft-Johnson wasn’t even in the United States on some of those days, but rather was traveling to Madrid, London and other cities in Ghana and China.
[….]
Culture of corruption? Since we have had so many fraud and crime stories perpetrated by Nigerians, I figured I would use this map to show you where both Ghana and Nigeria are located.
Federal prosecutors requested in court Friday that deGraft-Johnson be detained until his trial, saying the doctor poses a “serious risk of flight.”
Prosecutors contend deGraft-Johnson is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Ghana. They say he has “the motive, the means and the opportunity to flee from the United States to Ghana.”
According to prosecutors, he has two passports, both showing that he has dual citizenship for the United States and Ghana.
Unlimited hubris!
Prosecutors also contend that deGraft-Johnson has stated his ultimate long-term professional goal is “to be the President of Ghana.”
[….]
Court documents indicate deGraft-Johnson deposited more than $32 million in health care funds into his bank account between November 2015 and August 2019. Prosecutors say that the majority of funds were transferred to other accounts.
[….]
At one point, deGraft-Johnson told federal agents he had no cash that was not in a bank, but agents found $40,000 cash at one of his residences.
“This suggests that there may be other cash hoards in any of Defendant’s five other residences,” prosecutors wrote.
The doctor’s other residences are located in Miami, Manhattan, Hampton and Texas, prosecutors said in court.
Prosecutors also detailed lavish spending, including millions spent on Tiffany and Cartier jewelry, two Mercedes, and the recent leases of a Ferrari and a Lamborghini.
Honestly, I think Trump is making a big mistake not highlighting some of the major Medicare and Medicaid fraud prosecutions his administration is undertaking.
At every rally he should tell a story or two about how they caught some big crooks stealing from middle class Americans!
To be fair and balanced he could throw in a few American fraudsters along with the ‘new American’ ones!
Florida? Texas? Michigan? California? Which state has the most fraudulent medical practitioners?
Movita Johnson-Harrell has been charged (and plead guilty!) in a massive fraud scheme involving embezzlement from Medicare and Medicaid, charity fraud, and other assorted fraudulent schemes.
Although the story did get a fair amount of media coverage, I hadn’t heard about it until a reader, Judy, alerted me to a detailed article at American Thinkerentitled:
Movita Johnson-Harrell seemed to take pride in her position as the first Muslim woman elected to the Pennsylvania State Legislature. Now that record will forever have an asterisk next to it as Johnson-Harrell has turned herself in to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s Office, pleading guilty on charges of perjury, record tampering, and embezzling over $500,000 in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security disability funds, as well as donations to Motivations Education and Consultation Associates (MECA), a charity she established to allegedly serve the mentally ill and drug addicted poor in her predominately African-American neighborhood.
[Rally for Ilhan is herein case link under photo won’t work.—ed]
In a press conference, Attorney General Shapiro described Johnson-Harrell’s actions as “brazen corruption… her theft knew no bounds.” Johnson-Harrell stole funds that personally belonged to the residents of her facilities and used it to purchase fox furs, trips to Mexico, to make payments on a Porsche, pay delinquent utility bills, cover her granddaughter’s private school tuition and even fund her political campaign. After the facility, where residents were living in squalor, was closed, Johnson-Harrell continued collecting their rent from MECA even though the facilities were no longer operating.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Johnson-Harrell’s dereliction of duty extended to her short time as a Pennsylvania state representative.
During her brief period in office, Johnson-Harrell seemed to spend the majority of her time celebrating herself as the first Muslim woman elected to the state legislature, and helping to fundraise and advocate for the Hamas-linked Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Two months after being in office Johnson Harrell flew across the country to Washington State to stand with anti-Israel BDS supporter Congresswoman Ilhan Omar at a CAIR fundraiser with a separatist theme “Muslim Power for 2020 & Beyond.”
Author Leonard Getz has done a lot of work on this piece, so please visit for more of the disgusting news.
I’m joking, but because I see so many stories, I do wonder if there are Muslim training programs that teach their followers how to scam the infidels through Medicare and Medicaid fraud, Food Stamp fraud and the all-too-common Day Care Fraud.
With how far Left Pennsylvania is moving, I’m actually surprised the Attorney General would go after a Muslim ‘rising star.’
Gives us all hope!
Don’t forget to visit Refugee Resettlement Watchas the refugee program is again on front pages of newspapers across the country forcing me to spend more time there then here at ‘Frauds and Crooks.’
LOL! However, there is some crossover between my blogs!
Just as I was wrapping up I came across this (below)! Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolfwas the first governor in the US to tell the President to send the state more impoverished refugees for the state’s taxpayers to take care of.
Oops!
.@RepMovita Johnson-Harrell made history this week as the first Muslim woman to join the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
Diversity in public service is vital to our democracy and makes us stronger.
Because so many readers sent the news about a Pakistani doctor in Virginia under arrest for performing unwanted and unneeded medical procedures on women in his care, I need to post the news.
Even if there weren’t questions about why some women were unknowingly (allegedly) made infertile, Dr Perwaiz would have come to our attention, joining a growing list of ‘new American’ doctors who are busy committing Medicaid/Medicare fraud one of the interests highlighted here at ‘Frauds and Crooks.‘
Here is Robert Spencer’s (Jihad Watch) take on the incredible news at PJ Media:
Demographic Jihad? Virginia Muslim Doctor Tied Women’s Tubes Without Their Consent
The details of this case are simply horrifying. One woman tried for years to conceive a child, but couldn’t. When she finally consulted a fertility specialist, she discovered, according to the Virginian-Pilot, that her “Fallopian tubes had been burned down to nubs, making it impossible to conceive naturally.” It turned out that her physician, Dr. Javaid Perwaiz of Chesapeake, Virginia, had tied her tubes without telling her was doing it or obtaining her consent. And she was by no means the only woman whom Dr. Perwaiz victimized in this way.
[….]
About the good doctor we are told that he was “educated abroad,” with no hint as to where – it was actually in his native Pakistan, as the Virginian-Pilot notes: “Perwaiz has had a medical license since at least 1980, according to state records, having attended medical school in his native Pakistan and completed a residency at Charleston Area Medical Center.”
Read the Virginian-Pilot story to see what Perwaiz is being charged with.
Spencer wraps with this after telling us what Muslim leaders have said in the past about demographic jihad:
Is it possible that Javaid Perwaiz has the same kind of mindset, believing that he is performing an Islamic duty by preventing infidel women from having children? It cannot be discounted, but of course the possibility will never be investigated; to do so would be “Islamophobic.”
One reader who sent me the story remarked that any woman who goes to a Muslim doctor is foolish (harsher words than that). However, I will bet most American women have no clue if their ‘new American’ doctor is a Muslim and if they do they don’t know any basic tenets of Islam.
Changing America by changing the people!
Don’t miss my RRW storyabout how Muslims are winning big in local elections. Virginia was a big winner for them on election day 2019.
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced another False Claims Act (“FCA”) settlement centered around a health services company’s practice of providing unnecessary therapy services to patients in order to receive the maximum amount of reimbursement under Medicare. The $9.5 million settlement is with Diversicare Health Services Inc, a Tennessee-based company that provides nursing and rehabilitation services at 74 locations throughout the country. Diversicare’s alleged violations are similar to those in a medicaid fraud case settled by the DOJ for $15.4 million two weeks earlier concerning fraudulent Medicare reimbursements for unnecessary rehabilitation services.
Honestly, I think Trump is making a big mistake not highlighting some of the major Medicare and Medicaid fraud prosecutions his administration is undertaking.
