Suburban Chicago Counseling Center Owner and Five Others Indicted in Alleged $19 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced on October 21 that the owner of a suburban Chicago counseling center and five others have been indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly submitting at least $19 million in fraudulent claims to a private insurer for psychotherapy services that were not provided.
According to the indictment, Brenda Copeland operated All Types Counseling Services, which had offices in the southwest suburbs of Chicago and purportedly provided counseling services for conditions such as depression and addiction. The indictment alleges that from 2010 to 2025, Copeland schemed with the company's office manager, Samuel Carlson, and four purported patients to submit false and fraudulent claims to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois for nonexistent psychotherapy services. The purported patients provided their health insurance information to Copeland and Carlson, who used it to submit the false claims; in turn, Copeland and Carlson gave the purported patients a portion of the payments the insurer issued to All Types. The purported patients also recruited others to falsely pose as patients in exchange for similar payments, the indictment states.
In all, the defendants submitted $19 million in fraudulent claims, resulting in more than $4.8 million in payments from the insurer to All Types, according to the indictment.
The defendants are Brenda Copeland, 64, and Samuel Carlson, 69, both of Country Club Hills; Herbert “Randy” Foster, 59, of Flossmoor; Joseph Iraci, 51, of New Lenox; Anthony Gessert, 42, of Oak Lawn; and Henry Saldarriaga-Ochoa, 37, of Berwyn. Each is charged with health care fraud and conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Arraignments in federal court have not yet been scheduled.
The indictment was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Ryan Whalen, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI; and Anthony P. D'Esposito, Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Labor, among others. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Pinkston is prosecuting the case. Prosecutors noted that an indictment is not evidence of guilt and that the defendants are presumed innocent; health care fraud and conspiracy to commit health care fraud are each punishable by up to ten years in federal prison.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Chicago 的 Dirksen 联邦法院大楼，本案起诉书在此所属的伊利诺伊北区联邦法院提交。Ken Lund 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，经维基共享资源。Photo: The Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago, in the Northern District of Illinois, where the indictment was returned. Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
