Manal Wasef and Elaine Antao, both 46, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Their scheme involved referring Medicaid recipients to two Brooklyn social adult day care centers and a home health company in exchange for illegal kickbacks and bribes, the DOJ announced on Thursday. 

Between approximately October 2017 and July 2024, in exchange for illegal kickbacks and bribes, Wasef and Antao referred Medicaid recipients to the social adult day cares and the home health company. The defendants also paid illegal kickbacks and bribes to Medicaid recipients for social adult day care services and home health care services that were billed to Medicaid but were not provided or that were induced by kickbacks and bribes. Wasef and Antao used multiple business entities to launder the fraud proceeds and generate the cash used to pay kickbacks and bribes. In connection with their guilty pleas, Wasef and Antao agreed to collectively forfeit approximately $1 million. Wasef and Antao are the sixth and seventh individuals, respectively, to plead guilty in this case. -DOJ

The pair were tapping into the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP), which allows people with minimal health care experience to care for their elderly disabled relatives and friends. According to the NY Post, hundreds of 'middleman' firms work as de-facto payroll agents between the caregivers and Medicaid - all with minimal oversight.

On top of their guilty plea, the pair agreed to pay back around $1 million.

"Today's guilty pleas demonstrate the Department's longstanding commitment to rooting out fraud in government health care programs by aggressively prosecuting those who steal from taxpayer-funded programs," said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department's Criminal Division.

The pair are scheduled to be sentenced in May, where they each face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. 

Overall, eight people were initially accused of participating in the yearslong scheme to defraud the state. Also charged were owners Zakia Khan and Ahsan Ijaz, as well as Oasmneah Hamdi, Ansir Abassi, and Amran Hashmi.