Gregory Lawrence, Medicare Fraud Conspiracy, Michigan 2024

A 54-year-old Detroit man has pleaded guilty to participating in a $3.1 million Medicare fraud scheme, federal authorities announced Monday.

Gregory Lawrence, a licensed social worker, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in U.S. District Court in Detroit. His co-conspirators, Felicia Marsh, 54, and Jamie Moreau, 34, both of Detroit, pleaded guilty to the same charge in July 2012.

According to court documents, Lawrence, Marsh, and Moreau worked at New Century Adult Day Program Services LLC, a purported psychotherapy clinic in Flint, Mich. From November 2009 to April 2012, the clinic used Medicare beneficiary information to bill Medicare for more than $3.1 million in psychotherapy services that were not medically necessary and/or not provided.

Court documents reveal that the clinic lured Medicare beneficiaries, many of whom were mentally or developmentally disabled, from adult foster care homes and off the street with promises of seeing a doctor who would prescribe them prescription pain medication. When they arrived at the clinic, beneficiaries were told they must sign up for its psychotherapy program to see the doctor. The clinic would use the signatures provided by these beneficiaries as a basis to bill Medicare for group and individual psychotherapy purportedly rendered to them, but in fact, no psychotherapy was provided.

Lawrence, who directed the clinic’s operations, used his provider identification number to bill Medicare for approximately $1,247,059, of which Medicare paid approximately $395,060. Marsh used her training as a social worker to create documents that gave the impression that the clinic had rendered psychotherapy, and Moreau collected signatures of Medicare beneficiaries to defraud Medicare.

Lawrence, Marsh, and Moreau each face a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine at sentencing. Lawrence’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 29, 2013. The sentencing hearings for Marsh and Moreau are scheduled for Jan. 8, 2013.

The case was prosecuted by the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, in partnership with the FBI and the HHS Office of Inspector General.

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