Guilty Plea For Silver Spring Woman Charged In Healthcare Fraud Scheme

SILVER SPRING, MD — A 45-year-old Silver Spring woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to commit health care fraud as part of a scheme to pay bribes and kickbacks to Medicaid beneficiaries to entice them into visiting one of the mental health service providers she operated in Washington, D.C., according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

As owners and operators of Holy Health Care Services, LLC, Mboutchock Kabiwa, also known as Eugenie Bakari or Eugenie Kabiwa, and a co-conspirator entered into Medicaid provider agreements with the District's Department of Health Care Finance, according to Kabiwa's plea agreement. The company agreed to provide healthcare services to Medicaid recipients in the city. It also was certified with the district's behavioral health department to provide health services as a freestanding clinic and as a provider of mental health and rehabilitation services.

Kabiwa admitted in court that she and her co-conspirators paid bribes and kickbacks to Medicaid beneficiaries to encourage them to visit Holy Health and to others who referred Medicaid beneficiaries to visit Holy Health for mental health services, according to the plea agreement.

Kabiwa's co-conspirators assisted in transporting the Medicaid beneficiaries, often by van, to Holy Health's North Capitol location. Arriving at the clinic, the beneficiaries would be payed $5 or $10 cash bribes in exchange for describing the payments as a transportation stipend, according to the plea agreement.

Kabiwa also admit that as part of the conspiracy she and her co-conspirators tried to conceal the illegal bribes as payments from a nonprofit she had founded called the Agatha Foundation.

In total, the loss to Medicaid for all of the Holy Health services that were not delivered or procured via bribes and kickbacks amounted to at least approximately $3,343,781, according to court documents.

Kabiwa also admitted in her plea agreement that she had fraudulently obtained an Economic Injury Disaster Loan for Holy Health of $150,000.

Within days of the receipt of the loan, Kabiwa transferred $120,000 of the EIDL funds to her personal bank account. She admitted using the money to pay for personal items, including the purchase of two vehicles, one of which was a Porsche Cayenne. In addition, she told the court that she transferred more than $40,000 of the EIDL money overseas, including $37,821 to Cameroon, according to court documents.

Kabiwa is due back in federal court on Nov. 21 for sentencing. She faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal person for her role in the health care fraud conspiracy. As part of the plea agreement, she is also required to forfeit and pay restitution for the full amount of the loss of at least $3,493,681.