Mich. AG Charges Health Service with 31 Counts of Fraud

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has charged a Macomb County-based corporation that provides in-home care and nursing services to severely handicapped patients with 31 counts of filing false Medicaid claims. Cox has also charged the corporation’s owner and CEO with an additional 31 counts of Medicaid fraud.

Judge David L. Jordon arraigned Katherine Denise Adibnejad, a.k.a. Katherine Denise Raue, 46, of Shelby Township, the corporation’s C.E.O. and owner, on 31 counts of Medicaid False Claims today in East Lansing’s 54-B District Court. Each felony count carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison and/or a $50,000 fine. Judge Jordon set Adibnejad’s bond at $5,000/10 percent and she will be back in court Oct. 11 at 8:30 a.m. for a pre-trial conference.

The corporation, Always Angels Nursing Service, Inc., of Shelby Township, also faces 31 counts of Medicaid False Claims and will be arraigned Oct. 11 in East Lansing’s 54-B District Court.

Cox alleges in the complaint that an investigation by the Attorney General’s Health Care Fraud Division revealed that between November 2002 and July 2004 the corporation and its owner billed Medicaid for services that were not actually provided and also repeatedly submitted claims for the same services.

The Attorney General’s Health Care Fraud Division is one of 49 federally certified Medicaid Fraud Control Units. Medicaid fraud investigations and prosecutions include false billings, unlawful delivery of controlled substances, practicing medicine without a license, kickbacks, and bribery schemes. Abuse and neglect investigations and prosecutions include physical assault, criminal sexual conduct, identity theft, theft of residents’ property and funds, and harmful neglect in Michigan residential care facilities. The division also initiates civil actions, including asset forfeiture and claims for Medicaid overpayments.