Brooklyn, NY – Two women from Brooklyn admitted guilt to charges of conspiring to defraud Medicaid in a scheme that involved paying kickbacks for health care services that were never actually delivered, as announced by federal prosecutors.
Manal Wasef, 46, and Elaine Antao, 46, confessed to their roles as marketers and recruiters for two social adult day care centers—Happy Family Social Adult Day Care Center Inc. and Family Social Adult Day Care Center Inc.—along with a home health care company, Responsible Care Staffing Inc., during the period from October 2017 to July 2024.
Court documents reveal that the duo bribed Medicaid recipients to attend the day care centers and to receive home health services that were either not rendered or were fraudulently induced. The defendants subsequently laundered the proceeds through various business entities to create cash for further kickbacks. This fraudulent scheme led to Medicaid being billed for over $68 million in false claims.
As part of their guilty pleas, Wasef and Antao have agreed to forfeit around $1 million. They are the sixth and seventh individuals to plead guilty in this ongoing investigation. Antao is set to be sentenced on May 20, while Wasef’s sentencing is scheduled for May 27. Both women face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, although the final sentences will be determined by a federal judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory considerations.
“These defendants were large-scale recruiters who bribed patients with laundered cash and billed Medicaid over $68 million for services that were not provided,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s guilty pleas demonstrate the Department’s longstanding commitment to rooting out fraud in government health care programs.”
U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. of the Eastern District of New York said, “Our Office will hold accountable corrupt individuals who steer patients to health care providers in exchange for illicit kickbacks. We will continue to aggressively prosecute fraud schemes that steal from federal health care programs.”
“This was an egregious fraud scheme that placed profit over people,” said HSI Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel. “Their guilty pleas reflect that they knew exactly what crimes they were committing, harming both patients and the taxpayer.”
