AG Nessel charges 4 in federal healthcare fraud sweep

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced criminal charges against four Michigan individuals in June as part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Health Care Fraud Takedown.

The campaign is a nationwide law enforcement action targeting healthcare fraud. In most cases, the defendants are accused of billing taxpayers for goods or services that were never provided.

“Our Health Care Fraud Division works every single day to protect the hard-earned money of Michiganders from Medicaid fraud,” Nessel announced June 23. “They do exceptional work delivering for our residents, and these four cases are no exception. We will continue to protect taxpayer dollars and this vital program.”

The four Michigan cases include:

• Wayne White, 63, of Detroit, was charged with three felony counts of larceny by conversion – $20,000 or more, in the 36th District Court in Detroit. Each count carries up to 10 years in prison. Between August 2024 and April 2025, it is alleged White, while working as a part-time community outreach contractor for Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network, improperly received more than $234,000 intended for autism services.

• Claudia Payne, 47, of Mt. Pleasant, was charged with five felony counts of Medicaid Fraud — False Claim in the 54B District Court in East Lansing. Each count is punishable by up to four years in prison. The state alleges that Payne was paid by Medicaid to provide caretaking services for an elderly disabled man in Mt. Pleasant between October 2023 and November 2024. Despite receiving payment, Payne allegedly failed to provide these services and left the victim severely neglected.

• Kurt Hammond, 56, of Ann Arbor, was charged with one count of Medicaid Fraud — False Claim in the 54B District Court in East Lansing. Hammond, a pharmacist at Central Pharmacy located in Lansing from 2020 to 2024, allegedly dispensed and billed for a significant number of female condoms that the pharmacy never acquired from any wholesaler.

• John Kempainen, 43, of Oak Park, was charged with six counts of Medicaid Fraud — False Claim in the 54B District Court in East Lansing. Kempainen allegedly billed Medicaid for care he agreed to provide to a vulnerable adult who lived alone in a senior living complex in Oak Park. Kempainen reportedly failed to provide any care for her for at least four months between February 2026 and June 2026, when he was living out of state.

These cases are being handled by the Department of Attorney General’s Health Care Fraud Division. The cases against Hammond and Kempainen will be prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Dennis Pheney Jr., while Division Chief David Tanay will prosecute the cases against Payne and White.

As part of the federal sweep, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Eastern District of Michigan has also charged seven individuals and extracted a $1.9 million fine from McLaren Health Care Corporation to resolve a False Claims Act lawsuit. Among neighboring states, Illinois saw the highest number of prosecutions, with 16 people charged by the state and two by federal prosecutors. In Indiana, eight people are facing state charges, while Wisconsin saw two people charged by the state and three by the federal government. Eight Ohioans have been charged by the state and one by the Justice Department.

One way to commit healthcare fraud is by abusing programs meant to help people who are on the autism spectrum. From October through January 2025, 10 prepaid inpatient health plans in Michigan cost more than $130 million, according to a March 1, 2025, report. Many of those services are legitimate, but some aren’t.

In June, the state charged a dentist with 43 felony counts of Medicaid fraud for allegedly billing the state for dental procedures she never performed.

The Health Care Fraud Division is the federally certified Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for Michigan, and it receives 75% of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $5.5 million for fiscal year 2026. The remaining 25%, totaling $1.8 million, comes from the state budget.