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Seven Houston Residents Charged in $5 Million Medicare Scheme
A group of seven Houston-area residents are facing serious health care fraud charges after allegedly participating in a $5 million Medicare home healthcare scheme. The defendants were scheduled to make their initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Houston yesterday and today before Magistrate Judge Stephen Wm. Smith.
The superseding indictment charges Clifford Ubani, 52; Ezinne Ubani, 45; Princewill Njoku, 51; Caroline Njoku, 45; Mary Ellis, 54; Michelle Turner, 42; and Cynthia Garza-Williams, 49, with conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
The indictment also charges Florida Holiday Island, 50; Margaret Pleasant, 45; Estella Joseph, 61; Terrie Porter, 47; and Erica Walker, 30, with conspiracy to pay or receive kickbacks, along with Clifford Ubani, Princewill Njoku, Caroline Njoku, Ellis, Turner, and Garza-Williams. These defendants are also charged with individual counts relating to the payment and receipt of kickbacks.
Ezinne Ubani, Princewill Njoku, and Ellis are also charged with making false statements in the submission of claims to the Medicare program. Clifford Ubani, Ezinne Ubani, Princewill Njoku, Caroline Njoku, Ellis, Turner, and Garza-Williams were charged in the original indictment filed on June 21, 2010.
According to the superseding indictment, Clifford Ubani, Ezinne Ubani, Princewill Njoku, and Caroline Njoku were the owners and operators of Family Healthcare Services. The superseding indictment alleges that these owners and operators submitted false and fraudulent claims to the Medicare program for purportedly providing home health care services that were not medically necessary and/or not rendered.
The Medicare program paid Family Healthcare Services approximately $5 million based on the false and fraudulent claims. Caroline Njoku, Ellis, Turner, Garza-Williams, Wilson, Island, Pleasant, Joseph, Porter, and Walker allegedly recruited Medicare beneficiaries to be placed at Family Healthcare Services for skilled nursing services, and in return allegedly were paid kickbacks by Clifford Ubani, Princewill Njoku, and others for the referrals.
The maximum sentence for committing health care fraud is 10 years in prison. The maximum sentence for conspiracy to pay or receive kickbacks, each individual count of paying and/or receiving kickbacks, and making false statements in determining rights for benefit and payment by Medicare is five years in prison.
An indictment is merely a charge and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Today’s charges were announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno of the Southern District of Texas; Special Agent-in-Charge Richard C. Powers of the FBI’s Houston field office; Special Agent-in-Charge Mike Fields of the Dallas Regional Office of HHS Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigations; and the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU).
Key Facts
- State: Federal
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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