Federal agents have arrested a cluster of well-known Brooklyn community figures in what prosecutors say was a sprawling $38 million Medicaid scam built around two local adult day care centers. The case, laid out in a complaint unsealed Tuesday, accuses organizers of packing the centers with recruited beneficiaries, billing for services that were never actually provided, and washing the proceeds through a maze of shell companies. In southern Brooklyn, where the facilities catered heavily to Pakistani-American seniors, the charges are landing hard in a community that prides itself on close-knit ties and mutual aid.
According to the complaint, as described by New York Post, 78-year-old Pervez Siddiqui is among eight alleged conspirators tied to Apna Adult Daycare and Ashiana Social Adult Day Care. Prosecutors say those two centers became billing engines that churned out roughly $38 million in fraudulent Medicaid claims, fueled by recruiters who paid beneficiaries cash to sign up and surrender their Medicaid information. The reported scheme, which allegedly ran from 2019 through December 2025, involved fake sign-in sheets, overseas billing staff, and other tactics that authorities say were designed to hide the fraud.
On its website, APNA Community Services lists Siddiqui as a co-founder and board chair and describes programming spread across Brighton Beach and Coney Island. Tax filings tied to the nonprofit, available through ProPublica, show local leaders serving in governance roles that overlap with names identified in the complaint. The paperwork paints a picture of an organization woven into neighborhood life, which now finds itself under an unwanted spotlight.
The city’s own registry of social adult day care providers lists “Apna Adult Daycare of Brighton” at 236 Neptune Avenue and “Ashiana Social Adult Day Care” at 782 Coney Island Avenue, the same addresses tied to the programs named in the federal filing. Those entries appear in the New York City Department for the Aging’s provider directory (NYC Department for the Aging), which shows both locations as certified social adult day care centers.
How Prosecutors Say The Scheme Worked
The complaint, as reported by New York Post, alleges that recruiters and marketers dangled steady cash to lure seniors into the operation, sometimes up to $500 per month, in exchange for Medicaid cards and enrollment at the centers. Once beneficiaries were in the system, prosecutors say staff padded attendance records with bogus sign-in sheets while overseas billing personnel cranked out claims that did not match actual services. To move and disguise the money, the indictment reportedly describes shell companies, cash bribes, coded bank descriptions like “medicine” and “laddu,” and layered transfers that helped make the payments look legitimate on paper.
Part Of A Broader Enforcement Push
The Brooklyn case is not happening in a vacuum. Federal authorities have zeroed in on adult day care and pharmacy billing fraud across New York this year, targeting schemes that allegedly siphon large sums from public health programs. In January, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn announced guilty pleas in an estimated $68 million Medicaid fraud involving Brooklyn-based adult day care centers. Around the same time, the state’s Office of the Medicaid Inspector General flagged a separate $120 million complaint in Queens (OMIG). Taken together, these cases sketch a pattern that enforcement agencies say has quietly drained millions from federal health care programs meant to support vulnerable residents.
Legal Exposure And What Comes Next
The stakes for anyone convicted in such a case are steep. Federal health care fraud and related conspiracy and kickback charges, including those brought under 18 U.S.C. § 1347, typically carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, with higher penalties possible if patients are seriously harmed. On top of any criminal sentence, prosecutors and regulators can seek forfeiture of assets, civil recoveries under the False Claims Act, and exclusion from participation in government health programs for providers found guilty.
For now, the complaint is just that, an accusation filed in federal court. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until prosecutors prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt, a process that is likely to unfold under intense scrutiny from both law enforcement and the Brooklyn communities that relied on the centers at the heart of the case.
