Two Brooklyn residents on Thursday pleaded guilty to taking part in a $68 million Medicaid fraud scheme, federal prosecutors announced.
Elaine Antao and Manal Wasef pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud Medicaid by paying health care kickbacks for services that were not provided at two Brooklyn social adult day cares and a home health care company, according to Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
According to court documents, Antao and Wasef were marketers and recruiters for two social adult day cares: Happy Family Social Adult Day Care Center Inc. and
Family Social Adult Day Care Center Inc., as well as Responsible Care Staffing Inc., a home health care fiscal intermediary.
Between October 2017 and July 2024, Wasef and Antao referred Medicaid recipients to the social adult day cares and the home health company in exchange for illegal kickbacks and bribes. They also paid illegal kickbacks and bribes to Medicaid recipients for social adult day care services and home health care services that were billed to Medicaid but were not provided or that were induced by kickbacks and bribes, prosecutors said.
Wasef and Antao used multiple business entities to launder the fraud proceeds and generate the cash used to pay kickbacks and bribes. As part of their plea agreements, Wasef and Antao agreed to collectively forfeit approximately $1 million. Wasef and Antao are the sixth and seventh individuals to plead guilty in this case, according to prosecutors.
Other Brooklyn residents who previously pleaded guilty in this case include: Amran Hashmi, Joseph Helmy, Amal Ismail, Zakia Khan and Seema Memon.
“The defendants were large-scale recruiters who bribed patients with laundered cash and billed Medicaid over $68 million for services that were not provided,” Assistant Attorney General Duva said in a statement. “Today’s guilty pleas demonstrate the Department’s longstanding commitment to rooting out fraud in government health care programs by aggressively prosecuting those who steal from taxpayer-funded programs.”
When sentenced, the defendants each face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
