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[MM Curator Summary]: Mr. Banks stole 1M with bogus counseling claims. We have seen this movie before.
Clipped from: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ct/pr/brookfield-counselor-sentenced-30-months-federal-prison-defrauding-medicaid-more-1
Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that GREGORY C. BANKS, 50, of Brookfield, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to 30 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for health care fraud.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Banks owned and operated North East Counseling & Trauma Services and Gregory Banks Counseling, LLC. North East Counseling & Trauma Services, which had an office in Danbury, provided counseling services to individual patients, including those with mental health and trauma issues. Banks was enrolled individually as a Behavioral Health Clinician provider in the Connecticut Medicaid Program (“Medicaid”), but North East Counseling & Trauma Services and Gregory Banks Counseling LLC were never enrolled as providers in Medicaid.
Between January 2018 and July 2022, Banks submitted and caused to be submitted fraudulent claims to Medicaid for counseling services that were purportedly provided to Medicaid clients. Specifically, Banks submitted claims for dates of service when no services of any kind had been provided to the Medicaid clients identified in the claims.
In October 2020, the Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS) audited Banks and his businesses and requested documentation from Banks for six sample clients. In response, Banks made multiple false statements for the purpose of delaying the progress of DSS’s audit and to conceal his offense. For example, in February 2021, Banks sent an email to DSS in which he falsely represented that one of the files DSS requested was destroyed by a water leak above his office when, in fact, no such water leak had occurred.
Through this scheme, Banks defrauded Medicaid of $1,044,387.08. Judge Shea ordered Banks to pay full restitution.
Banks, who is released on a $100,000 bond, is required to report to prison on September 8.
This investigation was conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. U.S. Attorney Avery acknowledged the valuable cooperation of the Connecticut Department of Social Services in the investigation.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David T. Huang.
People who suspect health care fraud are encouraged to report it by calling 1-800-HHS-TIPS.