After a three-day trial, a Houston federal jury convicted a 64-year-old home health agency owner of directing a Medicare fraud and identity theft scam. According to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office, the jury found Paul Njoku guilty of all charges presented against him in less than two hours.
As the owner and CEO of Opnet Health Care Services Inc., also known as P & P Health Care Services, Njoku was accused of conducting a fraudulent operation that involved faking healthcare experts’ signatures. After several hours of deliberation, the jury heard witness testimony about how Njoku, or people acting on his behalf, allegedly copied the signatures of former doctors and nurses onto newly created medical documents to meet Medicare’s documentation requirements for payments related to home health services.
Medicare received reports of these falsifications in response to documentation demands, which encompassed more than just historical signatures. One registered nurse’s signature, which had left Opnet in 2017, continued to be used on nursing notes and assessments in subsequent years without her knowledge or approval. Adding to the deception, the trial showed that Njoku had bribed a doctor to allow home health services that were not properly documented.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Opnet billed Medicare for up to $400,000 between 2015 and 2019 and got more than $360,000 of that amount. Many of these claims, according to the testimony, were unsubstantiated by the appropriate paperwork, and an examination revealed forged records to back up the assertions. During the trial, a spokesperson stated that Medicaid would not have funded these claims if they had known about the missing paperwork or the use of fraudulent records.
The defense’s attempt to shift responsibility to another person had no impact on the jury’s decision. Njoku now faces up to ten years in prison for conspiracy to commit health care fraud, five years for each of two counts of making false statements about health care, and an additional two years for identity theft, to be served concurrently with any other sentence. He could potentially face fines of up to $250,000 per count, pending sentencing. Meanwhile, Njoku remains free on bond.
The FBI, Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, and Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit are all credited with their contributions to the investigation, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christian Latham and Kathryn Olson prosecuting the case. United States District Judge Alfred H. Bennett, who presided over the trial, will set a sentencing date for Njoku later.
