Two scammers plead guilty to $68M Brooklyn adult day care fraud scheme

Two Brooklyn scammers pleaded guilty on Thursday to defrauding a whopping $68 million from the state’s controversial Medicaid home care program by paying health care kickbacks for services they didn’t provide at three Big Apple businesses.

Manal Wasef and Elaine Antao, both 46, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud for referring Medicaid recipients to two Brooklyn social adult day cares and a home health company in exchange for illegal kickbacks and bribes, the US Department of Justice announced on Thursday.

Between October 2017 and July 2024, Wasef and Antao worked as marketers and recruiters for Happy Family Social Adult Day Care Center Inc. and Family Social Adult Day Care Center Inc., as well as Responsible Care Staffing Inc., a home health care fiscal intermediary, according to court documents.

The pair paid illegal kickbacks and bribes to the Medicaid recipients for social adult day care services and home health care services at the locales — billing them to Medicaid despite never providing them, prosecutors said.

Wasef and Antao also used multiple business entities to launder the fraud proceeds and generate cash for paying the kickbacks and bribes.

In addition to their guilty plea, the fraudsters agreed to fork over approximately $1 million, officials added.

“The defendants were large-scale recruiters who bribed patients with laundered cash and billed Medicaid over $68 million for services that were not provided,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement.

“Today’s guilty pleas demonstrate the Department’s longstanding commitment to rooting out fraud in government health care programs by aggressively prosecuting those who steal from taxpayer-funded programs,” Duva said.

Wasef and Antao are two of eight people initially accused of mounting the yearslong kickback and bribery scheme to defraud the state program.

Owners Zakia Khan and Ahsan Ijaz, as well as Oasmneah Hamdi, Ansir Abassi, and Amran Hashmi, were among those charged. Wasef and Antao are the sixth and seventh scammers to plead guilty in the case.

The pair ripped off the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP), which allows those with minimal healthcare experience to care for their elderly or disabled relatives and friends, The Post previously revealed.

Hundreds of “middleman” firms essentially work as payroll agents between the caregivers and Medicaid, with minimal oversight.

“These defendants placed profit over people and public well-being and stole $68 million in welfare funds meant for those who need it most,” Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations New York said in a statement.

“Their guilty pleas today reflect that they knew exactly what crimes they were committing — they were cheating the system and, in turn, hurting vulnerable Americans,” Patel said.

“I commend HSI New York and our law enforcement partners for their unrelenting focus on dismantling and disrupting financial fraud schemes that exploit the American public and hurt our economy.”

Antao is slated to be sentenced on May 20, and Wasef on May 27. They each face a maximum of 10 years behind bars, federal authorities said.