Godwin Oriakhi, Medicare and Medicaid Fraud, Texas 2023
A Houston-area home health agency owner has been sentenced to 480 months in prison for conspiring to defraud Medicare and Medicaid of more than $17 million.
Godwin Oriakhi, 61, of Houston, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sim Lake of the Southern District of Texas on Thursday. In March 2017, Oriakhi pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
Oriakhi admitted to obtaining patients for his home health agencies by paying illegal kickback payments to patient recruiters and his office employees for hundreds of patient referrals. He also admitted to paying Medicare and Medicaid patients by cash, check, Western Union and Moneygram for receiving services from his family’s home health agencies in exchange for the ability to use the patients’ Medicare and Medicaid numbers to bill the programs for home healthcare and PAS services.
Oriakhi further admitted that he, his daughter, and other co-conspirators submitted approximately $17,819,456 in fraudulent home healthcare and PAS claims to Medicare and Medicaid and received approximately $16,198,600 on those claims.
This case marks the largest PAS fraud case charged in Texas history. The agencies involved in the investigation include the FBI’s Houston Field Office, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Dallas Regional Office, IRS Criminal Investigation’s (CI) Houston Field Office, and the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU).
Oriakhi’s sentence reflects the severity of the crime and the impact it had on the Medicare and Medicaid systems. The case serves as a reminder of the importance of protecting these programs from fraud and abuse.
Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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