Two New Orleans women, Clara Aitch and Wendy Ervin, have been sentenced for their roles in a BP conspiracy that saw them file fraudulent applications to the Gulf Coast Claims Facility in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
According to court documents, Aitch and Ervin conspired with others to apply for disaster assistance funds, claiming to be employees of LACE, a reception hall owned by Lisa Crinel, when in fact they were full-time employees of Abide Home Care Services, Inc., Crinel’s company.
Aitch, 39, and Ervin, 42, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and were sentenced to serve three years on probation, with Aitch ordered to pay $18,500 in restitution to the GCCF and Ervin ordered to pay $17,300 in restitution.
A third defendant, Threasa Adderley, 64, was also sentenced for her role in the conspiracy. Adderley, a physician, had entered into a sham contract with Abide Home Care Services, Inc., to act as a medical consultant, but failed to meet her obligations and instead compromised her medical judgment by certifying ineligible Medicare beneficiaries for home health services.
As a result, Abide paid Adderley more than $48,000 in Medicare funds for medically unnecessary home health billing. Adderley was sentenced to five years on probation, with the special condition that she serve 12 months of home confinement, and was ordered to pay $48,500 in restitution to Medicare.
The three defendants were among 20 individuals indicted in a 26-count indictment charging approximately $30,052,295 in Medicare and BP fraud.
U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in investigating the matter, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrice Harris Sullivan, Sharan Lieberman, and Andre Lagarde were commended for their work on the prosecution.
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Key Facts
- State: Louisiana
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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