march 11 – Leonard c Boyle, Acting United States attorney for the district of Connecticut, announced that WALI MUHAMMAD, 45, of Branford, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty today to one reckon of health care fraud. Pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security bit (CARES Act), the homage proceeding before U.S. Magistrate justice Thomas O. Farrish occurred via videoconference. According to homage documents and statements made in court, from 2010 to 2019 Muhammad owned and operated Happy family Clinical Services LLC ( Happy Family ), a mental health and social services agency. At various times, Happy Familys office was located in East Haven and Branford, before moving to New haven in 2014. From 2013 through 2019, Muhammad engaged in a scheme to defraud the Connecticut Medicaid program by submitting fraudulent claims for psychotherapy services that were purportedly provided to Medicaid clients. The claims were for occasions and dates of service when no psychotherapy services of any kind had been provided to the Medicaid clients identified in the claims. The claims also were submitted using the names and identities of licensed clinical social workers and other licensed health care providers who purportedly worked for Happy Family, and represented that the psychotherapy services were personally rendered by the licensed providers, when, in fact, the licensed providers had not personally rendered the services, had not supervised the services that were billed, and were unaware that Muhammad was billing or causing the services to live billed as if the providers had personally rendered the services. When services were provided, they were usually rendered by unlicensed individuals and billed as licensed psychotherapy. Muhammad is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. district justice Vanessa L. Bryant on June 23, 2021, at which time he faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years. as part of his plea, Muhammad agreed to pay $574,034 in restitution to Medicaid. This case has been investigated by Special Agents of the Office of the inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and human Services (HHS-OIG), and police Inspectors from the Medicaid fraudulence contain Unit (MFCU) of the connecticut Chief States Attorneys Office. acting U.S. attorney Boyle also thanked the ct attorney Generals Office, the Connecticut Department of social Services, and the Connecticut department of Mental Health and dependence Services for their assistance in the investigation. The affair is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. Sheldon and Auditor Susan Spiegel. The U.S. Attorneys Office, Chief States Attorneys Office, and Attorney Generals Office meet regularly as part of The Medicaid dupery Working Group. The working group also includes representatives from the ct department of Social Services; the Connecticut Department of public Health; the Drug curb Division of the ct department of Consumer Protection; the office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and human Services, and the federal bureau of Investigation. The working group reviews pending issues and cases, identifies trends that might indicate fraudulent activity, and coordinates efforts for maximum results. multitude who suspect health aid humbug are encouraged to account it by calling 1-800-HHS-TIPS. source – U.S. Attorney’s Office, district of ct
