Two New Yorkers pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud Medicaid of $68 million by paying healthcare kickbacks for services that were not provided at two Brooklyn social adult day care centers and a home healthcare company.
Elaine Antao, 46, and Manal Wasef, 46, each face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for fraud between 2017 and 2024.
"Our office will hold accountable corrupt individuals who steer patients to healthcare providers in exchange for illicit kickbacks," U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella wrote in a statement. "We will continue to investigate and aggressively prosecute fraud schemes that steal from taxpayer funds from federal healthcare programs."
Federal agents have seized millions of dollars in assets, including bank accounts, jewelry, real estate, and luxury vehicles, Newsmax crime correspondent Jason Mattera reported Thursday on "Wake Up America."
Prosecutors say they paid cash bribes to Medicaid beneficiaries to obtain their personal information and steer them to two Brooklyn-based adult day care centers and a home health service.
Authorities allege the defendants then generated fake attendance records, submitted false claims, and billed Medicaid for services that were unnecessary — or never provided. In some cases, beneficiaries were allegedly billed while they were out of the country.
Investigators say the scheme involved multiple co-conspirators over several years. Five additional defendants, including Zakia Khan, 56, the owner of the companies at the center of the operation, have already pleaded guilty.
Newsmax's Eric Mack contributed to this report.
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