Owner and Employee of Local Medicaid Agency Plead Guilty to Federal Health Care Offenses

NEW ORLEANS, LA—AKASIA LEE, age 35, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, the owner/operator of a Medicaid Provider, and QUEBAN LEE, age 31, a resident of Marrero, Louisiana, AKASIA LEE’S brother and an employee of the Medicaid Provider, pled guilty on Thursday, March 19, 2009, for their parts in a health care fraud conspiracy in federal court today, before U. S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten.

According to court documents, AKASIA LEE was the owner/operator of A New Beginning of New Orleans, Inc. (ANBNO) located in Harvey, Louisiana, a Medicaid certified provider that filed claims for Personal Care Services (PCS) it claimed to have provided to Medicaid recipients, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and QUEBAN LEE pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud as well as seven counts of health care fraud. According to the factual bases, PCS are Medicaid services provided by attendants to eligible recipients meeting the medical necessity criteria who are unable to care for themselves. AKASIA LEE and QUEBAN LEE admitted that ANBNO solicited mothers with children who had Medicaid benefits to apply for PCS and that in many cases, a false prescription for PCS was created and transmitted to Medicaid. Based on ANBNO claims, Medicaid approved the PCS applications and ANBNO then would provide false documentation which detailed the services rendered to Medicaid child recipients.

Co-defendants UNA FAVORITE BROWN, MELINDA LANGLEY, and ERNESTINE GIROD are scheduled for trial on May 11, 2009.

AKASIA LEE faces up to five (5) years in prison and fines of up to $250,000. QUEBAN LEE faces up to seventy-five (75) years in prison and fines of up to $2 million.

This investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, and the Louisiana Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Patrice Harris Sullivan and Jordan Ginsberg.