CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A federal jury has convicted a Charlotte man for his efforts to defraud North Carolina’s Medicaid program out of millions of dollars over the course of three years.
57-year-old Donald Booker was found guilty of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, violating the Anti-Kickback Statute, money laundering conspiracy, and money laundering. A co-conspirator – 54-year-old Delores Jordan of Louisville, Ky. – pleaded guilty to her role in the scheme and was convicted of healthcare fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.
Federal prosecutors say Booker and Jordan, along with other co-conspirators, defrauded the state’s Medicaid program out of $11 million from 2016 through 2019. Booker owned a urine toxicology testing laboratory along with a company that provided mental health and substance abuse treatment services to youth, while Jordan owned a housing provider.
Over the course of three years, prosecutors said Booker defrauded North Carolina Medicaid by paying illegal kickbacks to Jordan in exchange for urine samples from Medicaid-eligible beneficiaries. Jordan had previously admitted she and others recruited housing-vulnerable individuals and other beneficiaries for housing programs and other services, requiring them to submit unnecessary urine samples for testing.