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Maira Suleman, Conspiracy to Commit Health Care Fraud, Michigan 2010
WASHINGTON – Four Detroit-area residents were arrested today by federal agents from the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and FBI as part of an ongoing investigation into a $14.5 million home health care fraud scheme, announced the Departments of Justice and HHS.
In a two-count second superseding indictment returned on Dec. 2, 2010, and unsealed today, four additional individuals are alleged to have participated in a Medicare fraud scheme operated out of Patient Choice Home Healthcare (Patient Choice) and All American Home Care (All American), two Oakland County, Mich., home health agencies that purported to provide in-home health services.
Maira Suleman, 30; John Thomas, 32; Sherry Prescott, 50; and Myra Jones, 50, were each charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Pramod Raval, M.D., 57, who was previously charged with conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute, was also charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud in the indictment unsealed today.
Twenty-one individuals, including the four arrested today, have now been charged for their alleged roles in this health care fraud scheme. The original indictment was returned on Jan. 12, 2010, with the first superseding indictment returned on July 13, 2010. To date, 10 defendants have pleaded guilty for their roles.
According to the superseding indictment unsealed today, the defendants’ co-conspirators owned and operated Patient Choice and All American. The agencies purported to provide home health therapy services to Medicare beneficiaries that were unnecessary and/or were never performed. Suleman, Thomas and Prescott are alleged to have falsified medical records used to justify and/or bill services to Medicare.
In addition, the indictment alleges that Jones and several other individuals recruited Medicare beneficiaries for the owners of Patient Choice and All American, paying the beneficiaries kickbacks for their Medicare information and their signatures on documents that detailed physical therapy services that were either never rendered or not medically necessary.
The indictment also alleges that Medicare paid Patient Choice and All American more than $14.5 million for services that were medically unnecessary and/or not provided between August 2007 and September 2009. The charge of health care fraud conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The charge of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute carries a maximum prison sentence of five years and a fine of up to $25,000.
An indictment is merely a charge and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Key Facts
- State: Federal
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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