A Charlotte, N.C.-based behavioral health services provider was indicted on federal charges for allegedly defrauding South Carolina's Medicaid program and falsely obtaining COVID-19 relief funds.
Ashley Cross, 41, of Charlotte, owned Odyssey Health Group, which provided outpatient behavioral health services, according to a Sept. 20 Justice Department news release. She is accused of carrying out a scheme from 2016 to 2021 involving the submission of fraudulent reimbursement claims to South Carolina's Medicaid program and its contracted managed care organizations for rehabilitative behavioral health services that were never provided.
Ms. Cross is accused of submitting fictitious patient medical records and making false statements to an auditor in order to cover up the alleged fraud, according to the release.
She is also accused of another scheme to fraudulently obtain Paycheck Protection Program loans on behalf of Odyssey Health Group and an event planning business owned by an alleged co-conspirator, as well as of submitting supporting documents containing false statements regarding the companies' payroll expenses, number of employees and other misrepresentations. The companies received more than $120,000 in PPP loans, according to the release.