Health Care CEO Arrested at SFO Airport

<p>The Department of Justice announced that a CEO of a Fresno-based home health care company was arrested at San Francisco International Airport while attempting to board a flight to Nigeria&period; He is charged in a criminal complaint alleging that he fraudulently obtained more than &dollar;7 million in payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs for services that were never actually rendered&comma; including care purportedly rendered to veterans weeks after they had died&comma; U&period;S&period; Attorney Eric Grant announced&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to court documents&comma; between December 2019 and July 2024&comma; Cashmir Chinedu Luke&comma; believed to be 66&comma; of Antioch&comma; operated Four Corners Health LLC&period; That entity provided unskilled in-home nursing and day-to-day care for elderly VA beneficiaries under the Veterans Community Care Program&period; Four Corners provided services in Fresno&comma; Tulare&comma; Merced&comma; Mariposa&comma; Madera&comma; San Francisco&comma; and Contra Costa Counties&period; Luke engaged in a five-year scheme to bill the VA for hours of care that were not actually rendered to veterans&period; Luke caused Four Corners to submit approximately 10&comma;000 individual false claims of care provided that caused the VA&comma; through its third-party benefits administrator&comma; to reimburse Four Corners &dollar;7 million for duplicate claims for care actually provided&comma; claims for days caretakers were not present with veterans&comma; claims for hours of care beyond those actually worked by caretakers&comma; and claims of care for veterans who were actually dead&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Luke served as the sole owner and billing representative for Four Corners and actively deceived the VA’s third-party benefits administrator as it attempted to recover some of the fraudulently paid reimbursements&period; This allowed the Four Corners billing scheme to continue&period; Luke personally profited from the scheme as the sole owner of the bank account that received the reimbursement payments&period; Luke spent reimbursement payments immediately after being paid by the VA&comma; either by spending lavishly on personal expenses or by promptly transferring the funds across a network of bank accounts throughout Asia and Africa&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This case is the product of an investigation by the U&period;S&period; Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General&period; Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorney Calvin Lee is prosecuting the case&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If convicted&comma; Luke faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a &dollar;250&comma;000 fine&period; Any sentence&comma; however&comma; would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the federal Sentencing Guidelines&comma; which take into account a number of variables&period; The charges are only allegations&semi; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;