Unlicensed Nurse Arrested for Defrauding Medicaid Out of More Than $715,000

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Miramar Police Department today arrested an unlicensed nurse for defrauding the Medicaid program out of more than $715,000. According to the investigation, Lanre Saad Kelani, 61, practiced as a health care profession without a license for a Medicaid recipient with a serious disease that needed 24-hour home nursing care. Kelani used a sibling’s name and license number to provide the services.

Kelani faces one count of Medicaid fraud, grand theft and organized fraud, all first-degree felonies and one count of practicing as a health care professional without a license, a third-degree felony. If convicted, Kelani faces up to 95 years in prison. The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case.

The Florida Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigates allegations of patient abuse, neglect, and exploitation in facilities receiving payments under the Medicaid program. Additionally, the MFCU investigates and prosecutes providers that intentionally defraud the state’s Medicaid program through fraudulent billing practices. Medicaid fraud essentially steals from Florida’s taxpayers. From Jan. 2011 to the present, Attorney General Bondi’s MFCU has obtained more than $794 million in settlements and judgments. In 2017, the MFCU was awarded the Inspector General’s Award for Excellence in Fighting Fraud, Waste and Abuse. This award is presented annually to the nation’s top MFCU by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General

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