New York man owes $1.8 million in restitution for Arkansas nursing home fraud
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said a New York man has pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud and tax evasion.
The AG's office stated that 72-year-old Joseph Schwartz of New York pleaded guilty to felony Medicaid fraud and felony attempt to evade or defeat tax. He was sentenced to 12 months in the Arkansas Department of Corrections with a 48-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and $1,801,620.53 in restitution.
Schwartz was the president and owner of Skyline Healthcare LLC, which operated multiple nursing homes in Arkansas. Officials said that the man submitted false and misleading information to impact per diem rates paid to the nursing homes.
Schwartz did not pay insurance premiums for his employees and would neglect grocery bills—leading to nursing home employees having to buy food for residents. Officials said he also listed himself as an employee of multiple homes and drew a salary from that.
“Schwartz didn’t just take advantage of our vulnerable population, he also preyed on Arkansans who worked in his facilities,” Griffin said. “By submitting false information to manipulate Medicaid payments and failing to turn over employee tax withholdings, he betrayed the trust placed in him as an employer and the owner of those nursing homes.”
Two of the Skyline homes were later placed in receivership by the Arkansas Department of Finance & Administration (DFA), the AG’s office stated, adding that Schwartz also did not pay taxes to DFA despite withholding funds from employees’ paychecks.
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