Owner arrested in Medicare fraud was already on probation

Even before his arrest and suspected role in bilking the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs, 55-year-old Nigerian-born Tony Obi was already on probation for stealing from the public trough.

Obi, indicted this week in a $ 45 million physical therapy fraud scheme and for allegedly accepting more than $ 1 million in kickbacks, had just been sentenced last year to two years probation for defrauding Medicaid and the state.

That scheme involved $ 86,000 in phony substance abuse counseling claims sent to Medicaid by the Standard Health Community Services substance abuse counseling program, a clinic he owned on Harwin Drive, according to the Texas attorney general's office.

Obi pleaded guilty in that case in exchange for deferred adjudication, which meant he would not have a conviction on his record if he successfully completed probation. A judge will decide whether the latest federal allegations constitute a probation violation.

Despite his criminal record, Obi continued to operate yet another health care business legally. As of Wednesday, Obi was still listed as the owner of a Houston assisted living facility, Victory Health, licensed by the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, or DADS, according to spokeswoman Cecilia Fedorov.

"There is no automated system in place," Federov explained, that would notify other health care agencies, when an owner is arrested or has pleaded guilty in a fraud case.

Naturalized citizen

Also unanswered is why Obi's name did not appear, until two weeks ago, on the federal list barring errant health care providers from the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

A spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that makes the decision as to who is placed on their exclusions list, could not be reached on Thursday.

In the new case, Obi, now a naturalized U.S. citizen, is accused of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud and money laundering while he was co-owner of now defunct City Nursing Services. The indictment accuses Obi of paying patient recruiters and marketers who referred Medicare and Medicaid enrollees to City Nursing between 2007 and 2009.

'Signing blank forms'

If convicted, Obi's case would close one of the city's largest health care fraud cases. So far, four people, including Obi's business partner Umawa Oke Imo, manager Kenneth Ibezium Anokam and physician Christina Joy Clardy, have been convicted and sentenced. In the case against Imo, prosecutors proved that Imo laundered health care dollars buying trucks and "tanks" in Nigeria. A fourth employee pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud in February 2010.

During Imo's trial, IRS Agent Andy Tsui testified that City Nursing billed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services about $ 40 million and received about $ 30 million between 2007 and 2009. He also testified that beneficiaries of both taxpayer-funded insurance plans were paid $ 100 a visit.

"And what were they doing at City Nursing to get that hundred dollars," Tsui was asked.

"They were signing blank forms," he replied.

Prosecutors declined to comment on Obi's indictment, and would not say why his arrest came three years after his codefendants' arrests.

terri.langford@chron.com

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