Press Release
Owner of Lewiston Counseling Agency Convicted of Health Care Fraud
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maine
Portland, Maine. United States Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced Nancy Ludwig, 65, of Lewiston, Maine, was convicted in U.S. District Court following a 5-day jury trial of health care fraud conspiracy, paying kickbacks, using fraudulent medical documents, and obstructing an audit.
According to testimony at trial, Ludwig was the owner of Facing Change, a mental health and substance abuse counseling agency in Lewiston. Abdirashid Ahmed was a Somali interpreter. From about November 2015 until May 2018, Ludwig conspired with Ahmed and others to commit health care fraud. The evidence showed that beginning in February 2015, Ludwig agreed to pay Ahmed a kickback in return for Ahmed bringing MaineCare beneficiaries to Facing Change. Ahmed and other employees at Facing Change then submitted false claims to MaineCare for counseling and interpreter services. In 2016, in response to a MaineCare regulatory change, Ludwig and Ahmed conspired to change the diagnosis of many of those clients to schizophrenia so they could remain eligible to receive MaineCare reimbursement for services at Facing Change. In 2016, auditors with the MaineCare Program Integrity Unit audited Facing Change. Ludwig and many of her employees conspired to manufacture false records in an attempt to deceive the auditor. The fraud continued until May 1, 2018 when federal and state agents executed search warrants at Facing Change and Ahmed’s business.
Ludwig faces up to ten years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. She will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.
On May 24, 2019, Ahmed pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit health care fraud. In addition to Ahmed and Ludwig’s convictions, five other individuals have been convicted of federal health care crime felonies for their involvement in this case and two other individuals have agreed to civil settlements.
These convictions and civil settlements are the result of a three-year collaborative investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General, the FBI, and the Maine State Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The investigation started because of the auditing work done by the MaineCare Program Integrity Unit.
Contact
Daniel J. Perry
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel: (207) 780-3257
Updated June 17, 2019
Topic
Health Care Fraud
Component