Owners of Woodbridge Home Health Business Indicted
The owners of a Woodbridge-based home health care business have been indicted for submitting numerous false claims for Medicaid reimbursement for services they did not provide.
Irvine Johnston King, 46, and Aisha Rashidatu King, 40, of Woodbridge, were charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; 22 counts of health care fraud, which each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; and two counts of aggravated identity theft, which each carry a consecutive mandatory penalty of two years in prison, if convicted, according to Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District Neil MacBride and Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington field office James McJunkin.
According to the indictment, the Kings owned and operated Bright Beginnings Healthcare Services, a business that provided in-home personal and respite care and private duty nursing services to Medicaid-eligible individuals.
From at least March 2008 through June 2011, the Kings allegedly defrauded Medicaid by, among other things, submitting false claims to Medicaid for services that were not provided, providing fabricated documentation in connection with an audit, and instructing an employee to lie to Medicaid about claims billed by Bright Beginnings. In addition, the Kings allegedly instructed an employee to convince a patient’s mother to lie to Medicaid regarding the false claims and asked the parent of a patient to sign blank Medicaid time sheets that were used as a basis to bill Medicaid for services that the Kings knew had not been performed.
The Kings are also accused of using – without lawful authority to do so – the name, date of birth, and insurance identification number of a patient on at least two occasions on claims seeking reimbursement from Medicaid.
The indictment seeks at least $624,155 in forfeiture as alleged proceeds of the fraud.
The investigation was conducted by the Virginia attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the FBI Washington Field Office. Virginia Assistant Attorney General and Special Assistant U.S Attorney Steven W. Grist and Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy D. Belevetz are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.
