San Tan Valley Addiction Treatment Clinic Owner Sentenced For $69 Million Medicaid Fraud Scheme

PHOENIX – A San Tan Valley addiction treatment clinic owner, Rita Ntusa Anagho, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for her role in fraudulently billing Arizona’s Medicaid agency more than $69 million in less than one year for addiction treatment therapy.

The 54-year-old Anagho pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud.

According to the Department of Justice, many of the patients that Anagho used to fuel her scheme were Native Americans covered by Arizona Medicaid under a specific program that reimbursed at higher rates than other Medicaid programs.

In addition to the prison sentence, Anagho was ordered to pay almost $55 million in restitution, and to forfeit almost $9.5 million in fraud proceeds seized from seven bank accounts she controlled and almost $7 million in real estate properties.

According to court documents, Anagho owned and operated Tusa Integrated Clinic, LLC (Tusa), an addiction treatment center that fraudulently billed the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) over $69 million from approximately May 2022 through March 2023. AHCCCS paid Tusa approximately $54.9 million based on these false and fraudulent claims.

Anagho, a licensed nurse practitioner, coordinated and carried out this massive health care fraud scheme by exploiting vulnerable substance abuse treatment patients. Anagho enrolled patients whose health care coverage was provided by the AHCCCS in her clinic, specifically targeting those who were covered under the American Indian Health Care Program (AIHP) fee-for-service plan available to Native Americans. Anagho and her co-conspirators often deliberately sought such patients because the AIHP provided higher reimbursement rates than other AHCCCS health care plans. Anagho orchestrated this scheme to defraud AHCCCS by submitting false claims for purported addiction treatment services that were either not provided at all or not provided as billed.

Anagho and her co-conspirators also paid illegal kickbacks to owners of local sober homes for patients who were referred to her clinic. Anagho and others falsified the treatment notes and records related to the purported addiction treatment services to conceal the scheme. Anagho then laundered the proceeds of her fraud and obstructed the investigation of her crimes by instructing her former employees to create fake medical records when Tusa received a subpoena for documents.

“Ms. Anagho’s scheme manipulated a program that was intended to help Native Americans in Arizona,” said U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine. “The fourteen-year sentence that she received is a sign of how serious and damaging health care fraud is to our society, and how important it is that we stop individuals who undermine the value of these programs.”

“The Fraud Division is determined to hold accountable individuals who exploit the Medicaid system and Native American health care programs,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division. “This sentence sends a clear message—if you take advantage of vulnerable populations to steal from the American taxpayer, you will pay the price.”