HOUSTON – In a stunning conviction, 64-year-old Paul Njoku, owner and CEO of Opnet Health Care Services Inc., doing business as P & P Health Care Services, has been sentenced to over six years in federal prison for masterminding a Medicare fraud scheme. U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei announced the sentence following Njoku’s conviction on all counts May 21.
The trial lasted three days, with the jury reaching a verdict in less than two hours. U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett ordered Njoku to serve 75 months for fraud and an additional two years of supervised release after his prison term.
Opnet Health Care Services was accused of billing Medicare over $400,000 for home health services between 2015 and 2019 without maintaining the necessary documentation. Njoku and his associates were found to have falsified medical records, including forging signatures of doctors and nurses, to support these claims.
Testimony revealed that Njoku had continued using a nurse’s signature on documents after she left the company in 2017, as well as bribing a doctor for approval of home health services. The defense attempted to shift blame, but the jury remained steadfast in their belief of Njoku’s guilt.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christian Latham and Kathryn Olson led the prosecution, with the FBI, Department of Health and Human Services-Office of the Inspector General, and Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit conducting the investigation. Njoku was permitted to remain on bond until surrendering to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility in the near future.
This sentence sends a strong message against healthcare fraud, emphasizing the government’s commitment to protecting Medicare funds and holding fraudulent operators accountable.
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Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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