The owner of a chain of New Jersey mental health clinics has been charged with enlisting his employees to bill Medicaid for services that never happened.
Daniel Cassell, PhD, 56, owner of Kwenyan Professional Health Services, was indicted by a grand jury on counts of first-degree money laundering, second-degree theft by deception and multiple counts of conspiracy, insurance fraud and related offenses, according to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.
Dr. Cassell is accused of conspiring and directing employees in a Medicaid fraud scheme. According to the attorney general's release, Dr. Cassell's business allegedly billed Medicaid for thousands of fraudulent claims for services that were never performed, or billed Medicaid for individual or family psychotherapy when group services were actually performed.
Two of Dr. Cassell's employees were also charged with second-degree conspiracy to commit healthcare claims fraud, second-degree healthcare claims fraud, third-degree conspiracy to commit Medicaid fraud and third-degree Medicaid fraud.
Dr. Cassell and his wife, Bindu Cassell, 37, are also accused of using their mental health clinics to hide unreported income as loan repayments and failing to report $11 million in revenue on their tax returns.
If convicted, the second-degree charges carry a five to 10-year prison sentence, and the third-degree charges carry a three to five-year sentence.