A Brooklyn adult daycare owner was sentenced Wednesday to 76 months in prison for leading a $68 million Medicaid fraud scheme that billed the government for care that was never provided. Zakia Khan, who ran two adult daycare centers and a home health staffing company, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay kickbacks.
U.S. District Judge Natasha C. Merle handed down the sentence, according to the US Attorney EDNY
. As part of Wednesday's sentence, Khan was also ordered to forfeit $5 million in fraud proceeds — a haul that included two real estate properties, cash, and gold jewelry federal agents seized during a search of her home, according to the
U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York
.
How the Scheme Ran Through Coney Island Storefronts
Khan operated the fraud through two entities — Happy Family Social Adult Day Care Center Inc. and Family Social Adult Day Care Center Inc. — plus a home health fiscal intermediary called Responsible Care Staffing Inc., prosecutors say. A shell company, Tanwee Services Inc., was used to launder the proceeds, per the same office's account.
From roughly October 2017 through July 2024, Khan and her network paid kickbacks to Medicaid recipients to get them to sign up for adult daycare and home care services that were never actually delivered, prosecutors say. The case involved a Brooklyn daycare fraud scheme.
A Wider Federal Crackdown on Daycare Fraud
Khan was one of eight defendants originally indicted in October 2024 in connection with the $68 million scheme. The case also included other defendants, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Khan's sentencing lands amid a broader pattern of social adult day care fraud prosecutions across the city. A separate estimated $120 million Queens Medicare and Medicaid fraud complaint is also part of that broader pattern. Other alleged Medicaid fraud cases are part of the broader pattern as well.
Oversight Gaps Behind Billions in Spending
Social Adult Day Care is discussed in connection with Medicaid managed long-term care plans.
Medicaid spending is also discussed in the broader context.
Khan's case adds to a list of Medicaid fraud prosecutions tied to adult daycare billing across Brooklyn and Queens. The cases are part of a multi-agency effort involving the Department of Justice, HHS-OIG, Homeland Security Investigations, and the NYPD targeting fraud rings.
