Liberia: ‘Cassell Innocent of Insurance Fraud’ Charges

The People’s Liberation Party (PLP) has claimed that its political leader Dr.Daniel E. Cassell is innocent of the insurance fraud charges leveled against him by the State of New Jersey.

Cassell, whose cash made him a household name politically, has been indicted by the Office of the Attorney General of New Jersey with first-degree money laundering, second-degree theft by deception, and multiple counts of conspiracy, insurance fraud, and other charges outlined below.

Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor (OIFP), also accused Cassell and his wife, Bindu Cassell, of using their mental health clinics to hide unreported income, and failed to report “more than US$11 million in additional New Jersey-earned income on NJ non-resident income tax returns” from 2016-2018. 

However, for Cassell’s party, they believe that their political leader is being wrongfully accused, and would be exonerated from all criminal charges levied against him  by the US State of New Jersey.

“The PLP would like to state emphatically that the accusations levied against its Vision/Standard Bearer remain ‘doctored allegations’ that can only be proven or denied through the presentation of hard facts or substantive evidence during court hearing or procedures and not by hearsay,” the party’s National Chairman Tapple Doe, said in a statement. “Indictment is not a guilty verdict but a process of proceeding to trial and as such, its Standard Bearer remains innocent until proven guilty in a court of competent jurisdiction in the United States.”

Doe noted that the party remains hopeful and steadfast that Cassell would return to Liberia in time for the 2023 election to continue his “crusade to liberate Liberia and its citizens from bad governance, segregation, deprivation, corruption, and other vices and societal ills that have kept them backward for several decades.”

He however wondered why his political leader’s case, which is being conducted outside of Liberia’ has gained so much national attention and is now being used as a conduit to get at the party and its leader “who has never stolen our country’s wealth and resources, neither has he been involved in our past atrocious civil war or committed any crime in Liberia.” 

 “We remain focused, determined and dedicated to building cells by consistently engaging our fellow citizens throughout the length and breadth of our country, and intervening to resolve the mountainous aged-old problems that they are faced with.”

“To this end, the PLP remains the only beacon of hope to liberate Liberia and its citizens and therefore, all patriotic and well-meaning Liberians should continue to put the interest of our country first by denouncing propaganda intended to injure the reputation of others, who have been in the vanguard of finding solutions to the barrage of problems the nation and citizens are currently encountering, and continues to worsen day by day.”

Cassell's alleged crime, according to Platkin, took place between January 2015 and October 2021, and that the New Jersey Office of the Insurance Fraud Protector began investigating him and his company, Kwenyan Professional Health Services, LLC and Kwenyan and Associates, which operated clinics across New Jersey in 2019.

The companies operated until October 2021. Officials said Cassell, his wife, and some employees used the Kwenyan name to hide income on tax returns — using the clinics to conceal the couple’s income in a US$1 million tax evasion scheme — and defraud Medicaid with a phony billing scheme. They also defrauded Progressive Insurance Company, officials said.

Two of Cassell’s employees submitted thousands of false claims to Medicaid for mental health services that were never performed, or were billed incorrectly,  New Jersey officials noted. 

They are charged, along with Cassell, with second-degree conspiracy to commit health care claims fraud, second-degree health care claims fraud, third-degree conspiracy to commit Medicaid Fraud, and third-degree Medicaid Fraud.

Meanwhile, Doe has claimed that local media coverage of the Cassell case is a smear campaign that has been initiated by failed and greedy politicians who want to see Liberian citizens die in perpetual economic hardship and poverty “in the midst of the current administration plundering our country’s resources on their respective family members who are flagrantly flaunting their wealth in the eyes of the impoverished masses.” 

Doe noted that the PLP is not moved or deterred by the growing wave of “political propaganda being intentionally targeted at Cassell” and the party ahead of the 2023 general and presidential elections.