Vivian Yusuf

On February 2, 2015, former Most Wanted Fugitive Vivian Yusuf was sentenced to 7 years and 3 months in jail and ordered to pay $1.6 million in restitution. Yusuf had been arrested on June 3, 2014, at Houston International Airport after arriving on a flight from Nigeria. In September 2014, she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

In March 2011, Yusuf was indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Investigators believe that Yusuf and her co-conspirators billed Medicare for more than $3.4 million for durable medical equipment (DME) that was neither medically necessary nor prescribed by a physician.

Yusuf owned and operated Ivy Health Care Supply, a DME company based in Stafford, Texas. According to court records, Yusuf and her co-conspirators allegedly improperly acquired Medicare patient information to submit false claims to Medicare. The defendants then forged physicians' signatures on prescriptions and certificates of medical necessity (CMN). They also altered prescriptions and CMNs after they had been signed by physicians. The defendants then billed Medicare for power wheelchairs, orthotic equipment, and other medical supplies that were not prescribed or otherwise authorized by a physician, were not medically necessary, and were not requested by the beneficiaries.

Investigators believe that Yusuf and her co-conspirators falsely billed Medicare for claims for nearly 800 Medicare patients, primarily located in Texas and Louisiana. Based on these claims, Ivy Health Care Supply was reimbursed approximately $1.6 million from Medicare. Yusuf and her co-conspirators allegedly diverted these funds from her business for their own personal use and benefit, as well as that of others.