A Philadelphia woman has been sentenced to a prison term after a U.S. District Judge ruled on her role in a healthcare fraud scheme. Oksana Kredens, 60, received a 20-month sentence for conspiring to defraud Medicaid, United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced. The defendant was also subject to a three-year supervised release, a forfeiture of $81,000, restitution of $66,869, a $10,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment, following her guilty plea in October of last year.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Kredens was involved in a fraudulent operation where companies allegedly provided home-based personal assistance services to Medicaid recipients billed for services that were not rendered. Instead, arrangements were made to pay the recipients in cash, and "employees" were recruited to appear on the payroll despite no services being provided.
The fraud worked by the companies involved in the conspiracy billing Medicaid managed care organizations as though services had been given, while recipients got cash and recruits, who often had other sources of cash income, could earn W-2 income. Kredens profited by collecting cash equivalent to the payroll checks of these fake employees, and distributing parts of it to the recipients, pocketing the remainder for herself.
"Looting money from Medicaid strains the system and cheats all the taxpayers who fund it," said U.S. Attorney Romero, as per the U.S. Department of Justice. “This sentence holds Oksana Kredens accountable for her criminal acts. Health care fraud costs this country billions of dollars each year. That’s why my office and are our partners are committed to fighting fraud, one case at a time." The case was investigated by the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth Abrams.
