Overview:
Rita Ntusa Anagho was sentenced to 14 years in prison for fraudulently billing Arizona’s Medicaid program tens of millions of dollars as part of a widespread sober living home fraud scheme that targeted Native Americans.
Rita Ntusa Anagho, 54, of San Tan Valley, Ariz., was sentenced to 14 years in prison for charges connected to fraudulently billing Arizona’s Medicaid agency more than $69 million in less than one year for addiction treatment therapy. Anagho’s fraud is part of a mass sober living home scheme that targeted Native Americans, left thousands missing and dead, and cost Arizona taxpayers billions.
Anagho owned and operated Tusa Integrated Clinic LLC, an addiction treatment center that fraudulently billed the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) more than $69 million from about May 2022 through March 2023 for behavioral health services that were never provided or were not provided as billed. Most of the patients in the fraudulent claims were Native American and had health care coverage through the AHCCCS American Indian Health Program fee-for-service plan. AHCCCS paid Tusa approximately $54.9 million based on the false claims.
According to court documents, Anagho paid bribes to owners of other sober homes that referred patients to her clinic — an illegal practice known as patient brokering — and wrote fake notes on therapy sessions that were never provided for patients.
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.
Between 2019 and 2023, thousands of Native Americans in Arizona and as far away as Montana reported being kidnapped — forced into unmarked SUVs and vans under false pretenses, given alcohol and drugs such as fentanyl or methamphetamine, subjected to fraudulent mental health services, held prisoner, and eventually ejected onto the street or dropped off in remote rural areas with no means of transportation. Victims were enrolled in AHCCCS AIP. The homes billed AHCCCS for patient care in excess of $8,000 per day per patient. Anagho is the latest to be sentenced in the massive scheme.
Today, nearly 180 individuals have been indicted for the fraud, and investigators are still investigating 200 cases. As a result, more than 300 fraudulent providers have been suspended.
Advocates say fraudulent homes continue to operate and target Native people, despite state crackdown efforts. A class-action lawsuit filed in 2024 on behalf of thousands of Native people impacted by the fraud claims that the state was made aware of the wrongdoing as early as 2019 and failed to act. The suit alleges that 2,000 people died or are missing as a result of the scheme.
