Mboutchock Kabiwa has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud for paying bribes and kickbacks to Medicaid beneficiaries to get them to visit her mental health clinic.
Ms. Kabiwa, along with a co-conspirator, is the owner and operator of Washington, D.C.-based Holy Health Care Services, according to a July 13 news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland.
Holy Health was certified as a mental health and rehabilitation services provider by the District of Columbia's Department of Behavioral Health.
According to the plea agreement, the co-conspirators transported Medicaid beneficiaries to Holy Health's North Capitol location, where they received a cash bribe in exchange for visiting Holy Health. At Ms. Kabiwa's direction, these payments were described by employees as "transportation stipends" or as payments from the Agatha Foundation, a nonprofit Ms. Kabiwa founded.
Ms. Kabiwa faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for healthcare fraud conspiracy.
Read more about the plea agreement here.