Cashmir Chinedu Luke, a Nigerian-born chief executive of a California home healthcare company, has been arrested in the United States for allegedly orchestrating a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme targeting military veterans.
According to a statement by the US attorney’s office, the
CEO was arrested at San Francisco International Airport while attempting to
board a flight to Nigeria.
The statement said he is charged following a criminal
complaint alleging that he fraudulently obtained more than $7 million in
payments from the department of veterans affairs (VA) for services that were
never actually rendered, including care purportedly rendered to veterans weeks
after they had died.
“According to court documents, between December 2019 and
July 2024, Cashmir Chinedu Luke, believed to be 66, of Antioch, operated Four
Corners Health LLC,” the statement reads.
“That entity provided unskilled in-home nursing and
day-to-day care for elderly VA beneficiaries under the Veterans Community Care
Program. Four Corners provided services in Fresno, Tulare, Merced, Mariposa,
Madera, San Francisco, and Contra Costa Counties.”
The attorney’s office said Luke engaged in a five-year
scheme to bill the VA for hours of care that were not actually rendered to
veterans.
“Luke caused Four Corners to submit approximately 10,000
individual false claims of care provided that caused the VA, through its
third-party benefits administrator, to reimburse Four Corners $7 million for
duplicate claims for care actually provided, claims for days caretakers were
not present with veterans, claims for hours of care beyond those actually
worked by caretakers, and claims of care for veterans who were actually dead,”
the statement added.
“Luke served as the sole owner and billing representative
for Four Corners and actively deceived the VA’s third-party benefits
administrator as it attempted to recover some of the fraudulently paid
reimbursements.
“This allowed the Four Corners billing scheme to continue.
Luke personally profited from the scheme as the sole owner of the bank account
that received the reimbursement payments.
“Luke spent reimbursement payments immediately after being
paid by the VA, either by spending lavishly on personal expenses or by promptly
transferring the funds across a network of bank accounts throughout Asia and
Africa.”
If convicted, Luke faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10
years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Any sentence, however, would be at the discretion of the
court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the federal
sentencing guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
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