Conviction - InsuranceFraud.org

A Baltimore County dental assistant and two of her family members have been sentenced for their roles in a scheme to illegally sell oxycodone to a licensed dentist who practiced while under the influence of the drugs, Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced this week.

Samantha Cook, a part-time assistant at Perry Hall Family Dental, was convicted alongside her mother, Alice Deese, and her step-grandmother, Janice Deese. The investigation revealed that Cook sold more than $100,000 worth of the opioid to Dr. Andrew T. Fried over an 18-month period.

The case began after a tipster reported that Fried was treating patients while impaired. A subsequent investigation by the Attorney General’s office and a Drug Enforcement Administration task force utilized physical surveillance and GPS tracking to document hand-to-hand transactions between Fried and Cook.

According to authorities, the drug supply was sourced through Medicaid and Medicare benefits. Cook admitted to obtaining the pills from Alice Deese, a Medicaid recipient, and Janice Deese, a Medicare recipient. Claims data showed the women used their government benefits to pay for the office visits and the prescriptions that were eventually sold to the dentist.

During a search of the dental clinic, investigators found an oxycodone bottle belonging to Alice Deese and a bottle of barbiturates prescribed to Janice Deese’s dog.

Brown said the misuse of healthcare benefits to supply illegal opioids devastates communities and endangered the safety of patients under Fried’s care.

As part of his previous plea, Fried admitted to purchasing the drugs on a weekly basis and practicing dentistry while high. He received a 10-year suspended sentence with three years of supervised probation and is barred from participating in state or federal healthcare programs.

Cook received a 10-year suspended sentence with three years of supervised probation and 100 hours of community service. Like Fried, she is now excluded from working as a provider in government healthcare programs.

Alice Deese was granted probation before judgment with five years of supervised probation, while Janice Deese received probation before judgment with 18 months of supervised probation.

The prosecution was handled by the Medicaid Fraud and Vulnerable Victims Unit with assistance from the Maryland State Police and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Neery Velazquez admitted in federal court today that while he was a healthcare worker at U.S. Customs and Border Protection detention facilities in San Diego County, he submitted almost $250,000 in false travel claims for reimbursement.

Velazquez, who worked for a government contractor, pleaded guilty to a single count of False Claim. He is scheduled to be sentenced before District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo on July 14, 2026.

Contractor employees are eligible to request reimbursement of their lodging, meal and incidental expenses when they are on “Temporary Duty” (TDY) travel more than 50 miles from the employee’s permanent home.

The defendant was hired in January 2020 to work as a “traveler” performing contracted services for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) away from his permanent home in Las Vegas. In 2021, however, the defendant moved his permanent home to San Diego, making him ineligible for reimbursement for travel expenses.

According to his plea agreement, between 2021 and 2024, Velazquez submitted approximately 35 monthly travel claims to his employer and falsely attested that he was entitled to reimbursement of his lodging, meal, and incidental expenses because he was on TDY travel.

Velazquez also admitted he submitted forged documents to inflate and support his purported monthly expenses. This included a forged month-to-month lease agreement with a fake landlord, along with a forged rental receipt signed by the fake landlord, to make it appear as if he was paying thousands of dollars more for rent of a supposed temporary home each month than he was actually paying for his permanent residence.

In total, Velazquez submitted approximately $244,019.48 in false travel claims for reimbursement. CBP reimbursed approximately $181,082.85 of that amount before it discovered discrepancies in the submitted travel claims.

This case stemmed from an investigation led by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General and Customs and Border Protection, Office of Professional Responsibility, with assistance from CBP’s Office of Finance, Investment Analysis Office. The investigation revealed that nearly a third of the contractor’s 100 employees on TDY status in the San Diego area were committing some form of travel benefits fraud. Investigators determined that such employees had submitted more than $1.59 million in false travel claims to their employer for reimbursement, which CBP later reimbursed. CBP offset the loss by withholding funds payable to the contractor based on findings of false claims.

The investigation and subsequent scrutiny also resulted in a reduction in travel claims submitted by the contractor to CBP. Notably, the submitted claims decreased from an average of $3.9 million per month in calendar year 2023 to $3.1 million per month in calendar year 2024, resulting in a cost avoidance of approximately $9.6 million.

“Every dollar stolen through fraudulent travel claims is a dollar taken directly from the pockets of hardworking taxpayers,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon. “We stand committed to preserving a government that stewards the public’s money wisely and protects it from wrongdoers.”

“This guilty plea sends a strong message that those who attempt to defraud the government and American taxpayer will be identified and held accountable for their actions,” said Joseph V. Cuffari, Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “We appreciate the coordination with our law enforcement partners in their actions to exact justice for these crimes.”

“This plea agreement highlights CBP OPR’s ongoing commitment to accountability and integrity, said Jeffrey Egerton, Acting Executive Director of the Investigative Operations Directorate, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Professional Responsibility. “Today’s resolution reaffirms our duty to protect taxpayers and ensure those who misuse government funds are held accountable.”

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick C. Swan.

A professional liability insurer has no duty to defend an Atlanta attorney whose client defrauded FEMA by fabricating a contract to provide meals to hurricane survivors in Puerto Rico, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

In ALPS Property & Casualty Insurance Company v. Honoré, Chief Judge Leigh Martin May granted summary judgment to ALPS, a Missoula, Montana-based insurer that provides legal malpractice coverage to law firms. The court also ordered the defendant attorney, Alcide L. Honoré, and his firm, Honoré Law, to repay ALPS more than $162,000 in defense costs.

The underlying dispute stems from a lawsuit filed by The Legal Funding Group of Georgia, an Atlanta-based litigation funder, alleging that Mr. Honoré and a co-defendant conspired to obtain cash advances tied to a fictitious legal claim.

The co-defendant, Tiffany Brown, was separately convicted in early 2025 of defrauding FEMA of $156 million through a fraudulent contract to deliver hurricane relief meals, as well as scamming the litigation funder. She is serving a 12-year prison term. Mr. Honoré was not implicated in that case.

According to the complaint filed by the litigation funder, Ms. Brown and Mr. Honoré invented a fictitious legal claim “associated with the termination of the FEMA contract.” The litigation funder wired three payments totaling $750,000 to fund legal work on the claim.

When the litigation funder sued Mr. Honoré, ALPS agreed to advance defense costs, then filed its own action seeking to establish it owed no coverage.

Mr. Honoré called the litigation funder’s allegations “outrageous and absurd,” in an interview. He said the allegations were first made in 2020 by a lawyer who was later disbarred.

ALPS had issued Mr. Honoré’s firm a legal professional liability policy covering claims arising from professional services, defined as attorney work “applying the Attorney’s specialized education, knowledge, skill, labor, experience and/or training.”

The defendants argued that because Mr. Honoré was acting as his client’s attorney, his conduct necessarily constituted professional services. The court disagreed. “Nothing about making affirmative misrepresentations of material facts — in connection with litigation funding or otherwise — requires ‘an application of special learning unique to’ the practice of law,” Judge May concluded.

Attorney General Dave Sunday announced that a Lehigh County man with no medical training or licenses has been sentenced to state prison for posing as a medical professional in Carbon County to administer care to patients — for which Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance companies paid out claims.

Adam Herman was sentenced this week to 9 to 24 months in state prison, followed by four years of probation. As part of the sentence, Herman was also ordered to pay more than $104,000 in restitution.

Herman, 45, of Slatington, pleaded no contest last year to 17 felonies and one misdemeanor, including Medicaid and insurance fraud, theft by deception, identity theft, practicing medicine without a license, and 13 counts of neglect of a care-dependent person.

The investigation revealed that Herman presented himself as a physician, certified registered nurse practitioner, or nurse to patients, including residents from at least nine personal care and assisted living facilities in Carbon County, where he treated patients, prescribed medications, and performed procedures — all without a valid medical license or training.

“The defendant’s actions put patients at serious risk and defrauded Medicaid programs designed to support vulnerable and underserved Pennsylvanians,” Attorney General Sunday said. “Thanks to the collaboration between my office and federal partners, the defendant’s web of lies and deceit was uncovered, stopping him from harming any other patients in the future.”

The case was investigated by the Office of Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Section Eastern and Central offices, the Office of Attorney General’s Insurance Fraud Section, and the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“By pretending to be a medical professional and providing medical services to real Medicare and Medicaid patients, this defendant seriously imperiled the health and well-being of vulnerable patients, wasted taxpayer funds meant to pay for legitimate health services, and undermined the public’s trust in our health care system,” said Special Agent in Charge Maureen Dixon of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “HHS-OIG will continue to closely collaborate with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Section to investigate allegations of health care fraud, holding accountable those who endanger patients and defraud federal health care programs.”

In 2022, Herman partnered with a Carbon County doctor to jointly operate a business that would provide medical care to the residents of personal care homes and assisted living facilities. Although the Carbon County doctor incorrectly believed that Herman was a registered nurse, Herman’s role at the practice was to run the business operations of the medical practice, not provide medical care.

After the doctor became ill, Herman used the doctor’s phone and authentication app (only accessible to physicians) to write prescriptions and claim reimbursement under the doctor’s name, without the doctor’s authorization.

As a result, patients received improper diagnoses and treatments, including diabetes medications given to non-diabetic patients, which caused illness and weight loss.

This case was prosecuted by Senior Deputy Attorney General Eric J. Stryd of the Medicaid Fraud Control Section and Senior Deputy Attorney General Eric Schoenberg of the Insurance Fraud Section.

Multi-convicted fraudster Jonathan Dupiton has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for using stolen identities to obtain millions of dollars in unemployment insurance benefits.

“During the pandemic, while citizens were struggling with job loss and trying to make ends meet, Dupiton stole unemployment benefits by submitting false applications using hundreds of stolen identities,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “His sentence underscores that anyone who seeks to exploit taxpayer-funded programs will be aggressively prosecuted and face substantial prison time.”

“Jonathan Dupiton orchestrated a brazen scheme to steal millions in unemployment benefits using the stolen identities of innocent victims, all while already serving a sentence for fraud,” said Marlo Graham, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “At a time when Americans were facing unprecedented financial hardship, he chose to exploit a critical safety net for personal gain. The FBI remains committed to identifying and holding accountable those who abuse public assistance programs and undermine trust in systems designed to help those in need.”

“Jonathan Dupiton stole identities and filed hundreds of fraudulent claims to steal nearly $3 million in unemployment benefits meant for struggling Americans, said Anthony P. D’Esposito, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Labor. His sentencing sends a strong message: if you exploit federal programs and steal from taxpayers, my office will relentlessly pursue you. We work hand-in-hand with our law enforcement partners and have zero tolerance for fraud. We will find you, and we will hold you accountable.”

“Dupiton’s fraud stole critical unemployment benefits from Americans who needed them most,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Maisha Horton, IRS Criminal Investigation, Atlanta Field Office. “IRS CI special agents remain vigilant in protecting taxpayer dollars and will continue to hold accountable those who exploit public programs for personal gain.”

According to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court: In 2020, while completing a federal sentence at a halfway house for a previous fraud conviction that targeted the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Jonathan Dupiton, a podcaster, organized a multi-million dollar fraud scheme that targeted California’s Unemployment Insurance (“UI”) benefits program. The scheme began at least by July 2020 and continued into early 2021.

The UI program was a joint state and federal program that provided temporary financial assistance to lawful workers who were unemployed through no fault of their own. Beginning in or about March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, several federal programs expanded UI eligibility and increased UI benefits, including the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program, Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, and the Lost Wages Assistance Program. In California, the Employment Development Department (“CA-EDD”), based in Sacramento, California, administered the UI program.

Dupiton, whose motto was “F.R.A.U.D. is Dope” (acronym for “Finally Rich After Unstoppable Determination”), obtained stolen identities of hundreds of unwitting individuals. He and his conspirators used this information to electronically submit false and fraudulent UI applications to the CA-EDD via the internet, using a virtual private network (“VPN”). The VPN helped encrypt data and masked the actual originating Internet Protocol address, thereby concealing the computer used to submit the fraudulent UI applications and delaying detection by law enforcement.

After UI claims were approved, Dupiton and his conspirators updated the claimants’ information to add mailing addresses in the Northern District of Georgia, including Dupiton’s own address, for the delivery of debit cards containing the UI benefits. After the debit cards were received, Dupiton and others went to ATMs, mostly located in the metro-Atlanta area, and withdrew the fraudulently obtained funds. In total, the CA-EDD was duped into electronically transferring approximately $3,800,000 in UI benefits. Dupiton and his conspirators subsequently withdrew or otherwise spent more than $2 million of the fraudulently obtained funds.

On April 14, 2026, U.S. District Judge Victoria M. Calvert sentenced Jonathan Dupiton, 36, of Atlanta, Georgia, to seven years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. Dupiton will be ordered to pay restitution in an amount to be determined at a future hearing. Dupiton pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Mail and Wire Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft on January 13, 2026.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General; the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracia M. King prosecuted the case.

Federal court records show a former Hartford, Alabama insurance agent has pleaded guilty to making false claims to a federal crop program.

Prosecutors say Jonathan Lawrence Eubanks forged paperwork submitted to Great American Insurance Company to secure crop insurance for a farmer, including a document containing false information submitted well after the deadline for cotton crop insurance.

Eubanks could face up to 30 years in prison, though prosecutors indicted they may recommend a lighter sentence in exchange for his guilty plea.

A U.S. district judge is scheduled to sentence Eubanks in July.

Eubanks is represented by attorney George Beck, a former U.S. attorney who now focuses on white-collar criminal defense.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of False Statement to the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation or a Company the Corporation Insures.

On April 1, 2026 Adam Brosius, 61, of Delray Beach, Florida, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for his role in a $33 million health care fraud and kickback scheme, U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer announced.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From 2014 through 2016, Brosius and others used Main Avenue Pharmacy, a mail-order pharmacy with a storefront in Clifton, New Jersey, to run an illegal kickback scheme involving medically unnecessary compounded drugs including scar creams, pain creams, migraine mediation, and vitamins. Brosius worked as Main Avenue’s director of business development, and later as its president.

As part of the scheme, Main Avenue identified compounded drugs that would yield exorbitant reimbursements from health insurers, including both federal and commercial payers. Once Main Avenue identified lucrative formulas, it would create large prescription pads with those formulas on it and distribute the pads to marketers across the country. The marketing companies would in turn distribute the prescription pad to telemedicine companies and doctors with whom they had a financial arrangement.

After filling prescriptions, Main Avenue submitted claims to health care benefit programs for reimbursement, including Medicare, Tricare, and commercial payers in New Jersey and elsewhere. After Main Avenue obtained reimbursement, it paid kickbacks to marketers who had generated the prescriptions. Main Avenue signed contracts with many of the marketers, which detailed the illicit kickback arrangement, which called for Main Avenue to pay each marketer money based on the volume of referrals of compounded prescriptions and the reimbursement amount that Main Avenue received. Main Avenue received approximately $33 million in reimbursements for compounded medications alone from health care benefit programs. Over $5.8 million of that amount was paid by TRICARE, a federal payer.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Madeline Cox Arleo also ordered $33 million in restitution, $27 million in forfeiture, and a term of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Frazer credited the following law enforcement organizations with the investigation leading to the sentencing: the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Naomi Gruchacz; and U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Northeast Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christopher M. Silvestro.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine M. Romano and Matthew Specht.

The Department of Justice has established the National Fraud Enforcement Division. The core mission of the National Fraud Enforcement Division is to zealously investigate and prosecute those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars. The National Fraud Enforcement Division will fulfill that mission by coordinating with agencies responsible for administering benefit programs; partnering with federal, tribal, state, territorial, and local law enforcement on fraud-fighting efforts; developing systems and processes that ensure efficient identification of fraud against taxpayer dollars; and equipping prosecutors and law enforcement with state-of-the-art tools and resources needed to bring criminal actors to justice. The attorneys in the National Fraud Enforcement Division will work every day to protect the financial integrity of our government and the tax system that supports it.

Three Los Angeles-area residents were convicted of fraud for a scheme in which they used a bear suit to stage attacks on luxury cars to rake in insurance payouts.

The California Department of Insurance said Thursday that Alfiya Zuckerman of Valley Village and Ruben Tamrazian and Vahe Muradkhanyan, both of Glendale, pleaded no contest to felony insurance fraud.

All three were sentenced to 180 days in jail, to be served through a weekend jail program, and to two years of supervised probation afterward, state insurance officials said.

The three were first arrested with fourth suspect Ararat Chirkinian in November 2024, after filing insurance claims for supposed bear attacks on a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost sedan, a 2015 Mercedes-AMG G63 SUV and a Mercedes E350 sedan.

The four suspects filed an insurance claim that contended a bear had entered and damaged a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost in Lake Arrowhead, nearly 80 miles east of Los Angeles, on Jan. 28, 2024. The suspects submitted a video of the attack, but the unspecified insurance company suspected fraud.

The Department of Insurance detectives found two additional claims made to two other insurance companies for bear attacks at the same Lake Arrowhead location on the same date.

One involved a 2015 Mercedes-AMG G63, and the other a 2022 Mercedes E350; videos of the purported bear attacks on both cars were submitted as well, officials said. In total, the three insurance companies paid out $141,839.

The California Department of Insurance called in an expert from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, who told them the attacks were carried out by someone wearing a bear suit. The bear suit used in the incidents was found at the residence of one of the suspects.

California officials have not said which of the four suspects is thought to have worn the bear suit for the scheme.

The California Department of Insurance said Zuckerman owes $55,360 in restitution, while Tamrazian owes $52,268. The restitution amount that Muradkhanyan owes has not been determined.

Mr. Chirkinian, of Glendale, was not convicted with the other defendants. He is due back in court for a preliminary hearing in September, state insurance officials said.

Two of five men convicted in a $2 million health care fraud scheme in Sharon were sentenced this week in federal court.

John Laeng, of West Middlesex, was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay $1,980,904.46 in restitution.

Christopher O’Brien, of Masury, was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay $489,868.72 in restitution.

Laeng pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. O’Brien pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail/wire fraud.

O’Brien and Laeng were charged, along with John O’Brien, of Masury; Mark Marriott, 56, of Sharpsville; and Drew Pierce, of West Middlesex; in a scheme to defraud more than $2 million from Primary Health Network in Sharon.

The indictment in the case said Primary Health Network was defrauded by “high-ranking PHN officers and employees who sought the funds for their own personal benefit” by submitting fake invoices to companies for goods or services, even though the companies did no work.

Pierce pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud. He is set to be sentenced next week.

Marriott pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail/wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and willfully filing a false tax return. He will be sentenced in May.

John O’Brien’s case went to trial, and a jury found him guilty of three counts of wire fraud. He was found not guilty of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, according to court records. He has filed a request for a new trial.

A West Bloomfield, Michigan, surgeon will spend a year in prison for his role in a $7 million Medicare fraud scheme, federal prosecutors said.

Mustafa Hares, 79, was sentenced Thursday to one year in federal prison and ordered to pay $4.8 million in restitution. In addition, Hares will serve three years of supervised release once his prison term ends, U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. said.

“This physician abused his medical license and position of trust as a doctor to facilitate a massive health care fraud scheme at the expense of the American taxpayer,” Gorgon said.

Prosecutors say that between 2019 and 2023, Hares and others submitted more than $7 million in fraudulent claims for psychotherapy services that were never provided.

According to court records, Hares and Mohammed Kazkaz signed patient progress notes, which were written by employees in Mexico and not actual medical practitioners.

Kazkaz was previously sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for his role in the scheme, prosecutors said.

“Medicare fraud is theft from the American people, and physicians who exploit it for personal gain will be held responsible for their actions,” said Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office. “The defendant’s sentencing for this multimillion-dollar healthcare fraud scheme reflects the significant impact of his actions, which drained critical resources from a program designed to serve those in need and undermined trust in the medical professionals who follow the law.”

The FBI and the Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General investigated the case.

Perry Hall dental assistant and family members sentenced for illegal opioid distribution