Hilliard area husband and wife sentenced for Medicaid fraud, money laundering
A Hilliard-area man who used his home-health company to defraud Medicaid and build a $932,000 luxury home apologized for his crimes as he was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison.
“I do take full responsibility for my acts,” Riyad Altallaa, 52, told Chief U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr. in federal court in Columbus.
Sargus accepted plea agreements with prosecutors in the case, sentencing Altallaa’s wife, 50-year-old Muna Alnoubani, to three years of probation for her role. The couple had pleaded guilty in December to conspiring to defraud Medicaid; Altallaa also pleaded guilty to money laundering for using the funds to finance their house at 8043 Patterson Rd. in Brown Township.
They operated Columbus Home Health Care Services at 50 Old Village Road on the West Side.
“It was egregious,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Affeldt said of the case. “They made a significant amount of money off the taxpayer and Medicaid and other health-insurance companies. It allowed them to have this lavish lifestyle.”
Read more: http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170914/hilliard-area-husband-and-wife-sentenced-for-medicaid-fraud-money-laundering
Ohio is among a handful of states that don’t require licensing for home-health agencies.