Macomb County couple charged in home health care scheme
Feds: Defendants cheated Medicare out of $12M
A Macomb County couple who own several home health care companies has been charged in connection with an elaborate tax evasion scheme and kickback scam that allegedly bilked Medicare out of $12 million.
A superseding indictment was unsealed late last week charging Isabel Tcruz and Noli Tcruz with tax evasion, and multiple health care fraud offenses, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Also named in the indictment was Dr. Terry Baul, who is accused of participating in a health care fraud conspiracy.
Previously, only Isabel Tcruz had been indicted.
Federal prosecutors said the couple evaded paying more than $602,000 in taxes through a variety of methods, including using their home health care business bank accounts to pay more than $440,000 in personal expenses.
“They also placed funds beyond the reach of the IRS by diverting money from their businesses to other people and those people used the money to pay Isabel
and Noli Tcruz’s personal expenses,” prosecutors said in a news release.
Isabel Tcruz, 61, and her 65-year-old husband of 38 years, Noli, reside in Washington Township in northern Macomb County. They have two adult children.
According to court records, the couple owned multiple home health care businesses in Roseville, including Maxicare Home Health Agency, Faith Home Care Services and Affinity Home Care, although they sold Affinity in 2014. The couple also owned home health agencies in Arizona and Nevada.
The companies were enrolled as participating providers with
Medicare and submitted claims to Medicare.
The pair used money from their businesses to purchase a home in Michigan for $675,000 and a home in Henderson, NV for $925,000, according to the indictment.
From 2011 to 2017, they used their companies to pay — either directly or indirectly — about $909,000 in personal expenses and issued checks from their business accounts made payable to themselves, but diverted the money to other people to pay their expenses totaling $1.6 million, court records state.
The superseding indictment also alleges the couple and Baul, 69, who runs a medical office on Detroit’s east side, and other doctors conspired to defraud the government by paying and receiving health care kickbacks from 2011 through 2018.
Prosecutors say Isabel and Noli Tcruz arranged with several physicians
From 2011 to 2017, (the couple) used their companies to pay — either directly or indirectly — about $909,000 in personal expenses and issued checks from their business accounts made payable to themselves, but diverted the money to other people to pay their expenses totaling $1.6 million, court records state.
to pay the physicians through kickbacks and bribes in exchange for referring Medicare beneficiaries and providing Medicare with beneficiary information used to support the fraudulent claims made by the businesses. The couple then submitted claims to Medicare for home health care services that were allegedly provided to the patients.
According to the government, Isabel Trcuz, Noli Trcuz, Baul and other doctors attempted to disguise the kickbacks by paying Baul in cash and gifts instead of payments
that could be tracked.
Prosecutors say the fraudulent claims to Medicare totaling “at least” $12 million were submitted that were obtained through illegal kickbacks and bribes.
Authorities had previously also charged Noli Tcruz’s mother, Romileen Tcruz, in connection to the scam. Court records show that in July 2019, those charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning the charges can be filed again at a later date.
Investigators said the evidence includes video and audio recordings of conversations between Isabel
Tcruz and a cooperating physician discussing the “rate of kickback on a per-patient basis.”
After Isabel Tcruz was initially charged, she requested permission to leave the country to fly to Manila in the Philippines in September 2018 to attend a surprise 80th birthday party for her husband’s sister. The sister, Rosario C. Cruz, allegedly is a retired district court judge in Manila, records show.
But District Judge Denise Page Hood denied the request, noting the couple has family members in the Philippines with access to money that could be tapped into if they decided not to return to the United States.
Both the tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the government are punishable by up to five years in prison and a $100,000 fine. If convicted on the illegal remunerations of health care programs charges, they face up to 10 years in prison and a $200,000 fine for each count.
Isabel and Noli Truz are free on a $10,000 personal bond each.