Nigerian Fugitive Vivian Yusuf Nabbed for $3.4M Medicare Fraud

Nigerian fugitive Vivian Yusuf has been apprehended at a Houston airport and faces federal charges for health care fraud in Texas. The 43-year-old, once the owner of Ivy Health Care Supply, is accused of orchestrating a scheme that bilked Medicare out of over $3.4 million through fraudulent billing practices.

The Department of Justice announced that Yusuf had been indicted for conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, and aggravated identity theft, having been a fugitive since March 2011. According to the indictment, from 2007 to 2009, Yusuf and her co-conspirators marketed power wheelchairs and orthopedic kits to Medicare beneficiaries without physician authorization, using stolen personal information.

Yusuf’s fraudulent billing resulted in over $1.6 million in ill-gotten gains for the defendant and her cohorts. The scheme also involved forging physicians’ signatures and submitting claims for deceased Medicare beneficiaries. Odelugo and Reese, two of Yusuf’s co-conspirators, were also indicted and have since pleaded guilty to their roles in similar frauds, facing lengthy sentences and substantial restitution.

Yusuf appeared in federal court in Houston for an initial appearance and is being transferred to the Eastern District of Texas. If convicted on all counts, she faces up to 10 years in prison for conspiracy and health care fraud, with additional penalties for identity theft. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathaniel C. Kummerfeld is leading the prosecution.

This case is a joint investigation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), the Texas Office of the Attorney General – Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (OAG-MFCU), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

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