Diana Marie Moore, 42, of Mesa, Arizona, pleaded guilty on Monday to Wire Fraud and Money Laundering. Sentencing is scheduled for September 18, 2023, before United States District Judge Susan M. Brnovich.
Moore admitted that she owned two behavioral health counseling services, Harmony Family Services (HFS) and Harmony Family Services II (HFS II) and that she had also submitted an application for a third behavioral health counseling service, Logan Family Health, LLC (LFH). All three then applied to be medical providers for the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), Arizona’s Medicaid agency – HFS applied in 2019, HFS II applied in 2020, and LFH applied in 2022. AHCCCS approved all three applications. At the times that HFS and HFS II applied to AHCCCS, Moore admitted that she failed to disclose her ownership interest in the other entity. Moore also failed to disclose her prior felony conviction, which was required to be disclosed on the AHCCCS application form.
Moore further admitted that she engaged in fraudulent billing practices targeting AHCCCS. Starting in January 2020, Moore began obtaining AHCCCS identification numbers for AHCCCS enrollees by paying other providers to transport AHCCCS enrollees to the HFS or HFS II facility for a single day, and then obtaining the enrollees’ identification numbers once they arrived. After these AHCCCS enrollees left the HFS or HFS II facility, Moore would submit bills to AHCCCS, which falsely claimed that HFS and HFS II continued providing services to those same enrollees for up to 90 days. Moore regularly claimed that HFS or HFS II provided counseling services to a given AHCCCS enrollee for eight or more hours each day, five days a week, for months in a row, even though Moore knew such services were not provided. In addition, Moore submitted claims to AHCCCS which falsely claimed that HFS or HFS II provided services to certain AHCCCS enrollees who were, in fact, deceased or imprisoned at the time Moore claimed to have provided services. Moore later established LFH to knowingly engage in the same pattern of fraudulent billing. Between January 2020 and December 2021, HFS, HFS II, and LFH collectively received over $22 million in payments from AHCCCS.
In her plea agreement, Moore agreed to forfeit four residences, seven luxury vehicles, and over 100 other items, including jewelry, artwork, and designer clothing, all of which Moore purchased using fraudulent proceeds.
A conviction for Wire Fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. A conviction for Money Laundering carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
