The DOJ announced that Alisha Richardson, former nursing home scheduler, was charged with seven counts of wire fraud. A Chicago federal jury returned the indictment that could land Richardson in prison for decades.
According to the indictment, Richardson was the head of the scheduling department at a nursing home in Forest Park, Illinois. Richardson had authority to hire Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) at the Illinois nursing home. From approximately October 2017 to April 2019, Richardson falsified records to make it appear as if CNAs were hired and employed. Richardson used her hand to scan into the nursing home’s timecard system which caused fraudulent logged time for “ghost” employees to be submitted and caused the nursing home to issue paychecks to “ghost” employees. In turn, Richardson endorsed and deposited some of the paychecks into various accessible bank accounts. The indictment further alleges that the Illinois nursing home paid over $100,000 for work never performed. Many of the “ghost” employees were actually employed elsewhere.
After Richardson’s indictment was announced, Special Agent in Charge Mario M. Pinto of the HHS-OIG, stated they are “committed to working together with our law enforcement partners to identify and investigate those who allegedly engage in fraud targeting our federal health care programs.” If found guilty, Richardson faces up to 20 years in prison on each count along with property forfeiture and at least $100,000 in fines.
The attorneys at Chilivis Grubman represent clients of all types and sizes in connection with white-collar criminal investigations and healthcare fraud investigations. If you need assistance with such a matter, please contact us today.