Bob Dean Jr., a Louisiana nursing home owner and operator, agreed to pay another $8.2 million to resolve federal allegations that he misappropriated and misused nursing home assets and income before and during the landfall of Hurricane Ida in August 2021.
The charges cover four Louisiana nursing homes: Maison De'Ville Nursing Home in Houma, Maison De'Ville Nursing Home in Harvey, Maison Orleans Healthcare in New Orleans and West Jefferson Health Care Center in Harvey, according to an Oct. 8 Justice Department news release. The suit alleged that between 2016 and 2021, Mr. Dean required the nursing homes to pay "rent" on an industrial warehouse. The rent, totaling more than $1 million, was paid to one of his corporate entities. He allegedly funneled much of that money into personal bank accounts.
This is the second lawsuit Mr. Dean has settled related to his actions before and during Hurricane Ida. In November 2022, Mr. Dean settled a class-action lawsuit over the case for $12.5 million.
In August 2021, during Hurricane Ida, Bob Dean ordered more than 800 nursing home residents to be evacuated into a warehouse designed to hold no more than 400 people. Four residents died and 15 required hospitalization. The state launched an investigation in September 2021 and revoked Mr. Dean's seven nursing home licenses and terminated Medicaid agreements.
In July 2024, he pleaded no contest to 15 state criminal charges related to the deaths of seven people and his 20-year prison sentence was reduced to three years of probation.