Manager of Quincy addiction treatment center charged with $500,000 in insurance fraud [The Patriot Ledger]

DEDHAM - A Quincy woman who pleaded guilty last year in two separate cases to defrauding state agencies was indicted last week on five counts related to alleged insurance fraud.

A grand jury indicted Nicole Kasimatis, 47, of Quincy, on two counts of medical assistance fraud by a provider, one count of filing a false health care claim and two counts of larceny over $1,200, according to court records. She is also accused of being a common and notorious thief, which could lengthen her sentence if she's convicted.

Police arrested Kasimatis on a warrant in Plymouth on Nov. 3, Attorney General's Office spokeswoman Roxana Martinez-Gracias said in a news release.

During her arraignment Nov. 4 in Norfolk Superior Court, Judge Douglas Wilkins set her bail at $1 million with a $100,000 cash surety, according to court records. If she can pay $100,000 in cash, she will be released and required to wear a GPS bracelet, not travel outside of the state, stay home from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., surrender her passport and not bill any public or private insurance companies.

Martinez-Gracias said in the news release that the Attorney General's Office got involved with the case following a referral from the state Insurance Fraud Bureau and the Norfolk County district attorney's office. Kasimatis runs the Fortitude Counseling and Recovery Center for addiction treatment in Quincy.

READ FOR YOURSELF: Read the attorney general's statement of the case

Norfolk County prosecutors passed along the allegations to the Attorney General's Office because it has a Medicaid fraud division, district attorney's office spokesman David Traub said in an interview.

Assistant Attorney General William Champlin said in court documents that Kasimatis filed false insurance claims with private and public health insurers between 2016 and 2021 through Fortitude Counseling and Recovery Center.

Champlin said fraudulent claims totaling $483,578 were sent to government insurance companies, while fraudulent claims totaling $4,831 were sent to private insurers.

Former patients told investigators their insurance was billed after they stopped receiving services from the company and, when they complained, Kasimatis ignored them or told them she "would take care of it," Champlin said in court documents. One patient went to five sessions but was billed for 33 sessions, he said.

Claims were filed for 113 patients using the names of two service providers who had already left Fortitude Counseling, according to the allegations.

Champlin said Kasimatis used the money to pay for domestic and international travel, baseball games, baseball camps for her children, weight loss services and to post bail after she was indicted in 2015 and 2018 for a different fraud scheme.

In that case, she pleaded guilty to 15 charges and is on probation. Charges included public assistance fraud, larceny, document forgery and uttering a false money order.

Nov. 30, 20: Quincy woman pleads guilty in 'sprawling' public benefits fraud case

Judge Beverly Cannone sentenced Kasimatis in November 2020 to five years' probation and 36 days in jail, the amount of time she had already spent in jail before posting bond. She was ordered to pay $103,000 in restitution.

In that case, prosecutors said Kasimatis under-reported her income as a licensed social worker and lied about her employment to fraudulently collect benefits from the state Department of Transitional Assistance, MassHealth, the federal Social Security Administration and the state Department of Early Education and Care between Aug. 23, 2006, and April 27, 2018.

In a statement following Kasimatis' 2020 sentencing, Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey said his prosecutors agreed to a plea deal with no prison time because some of the stolen money would go immediately back to the state benefits program and because COVID-19 restrictions would delay a trial for another year.

Kasimatis' attorney, Scott Bradley, of West Bridgewater, did not return a request for comment and information.

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Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at [email protected].

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