PLP’s Cassell Back in US Dragnet for Insurance Fraud

By Dino Ciliberti andMichelle Rotuno-Johnson (Courtesy: Patch.com)

An employee of a chain of mental health clinics in the U.S. State of New Jersey owned by Liberian opposition politician, Daniel E. Cassell, faces charges of conspiracy and insurance fraud as part of a scheme in which he conspired with Mr. Cassell, officials said.

John Johnson, 31, of Levittown, and Daniel Cassell, of Perkasie, conspired to get lower insurance premiums through Progressive for Kwenyan's fleet of 20 vans, officials from the New Jersey's Office of the Attorney General said in a press release Monday.

Kwenyan Professional Health Services, LLC and Kwenyan and Associates operated clinics across New Jersey. The companies operated until October 2021.

Officials said owner Daniel E. 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 $1 million tax evasion scheme—and defraud Medicaid with a phony billing scheme. They also defrauded Progressive Insurance Company, officials said.

Officials say Cassell and Johnson claimed the fleet would be garaged in Pennsylvania.

In reality, the vehicles were housed in Kwenyan's locations in West Orange, Ewing, Flemington, Phillipsburg, and New Providence, court records show.

Acting Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor (OIFP) announced that a state grand jury indicted Cassell, 58, on charges of first-degree money laundering, second-degree theft by deception, and multiple counts of conspiracy, insurance fraud, and other charges outlined below.

Officials said Cassell and his wife, 37-year-old Bindu Cassell of Perkasie, used the mental health clinics to hide unreported income, and failed to report "more than $11 million in additional New Jersey-earned income on NJ non-resident income tax returns" from 2016-2018. Bindu Cassell was an officer for the Kwenyan entities, Platkin said.

Officials charged them both with second-degree misconduct of a corporate official, and three counts each of third-degree filing a fraudulent return and third-degree failure to pay tax.

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

Carmen C. Ward, 63, of Flemington and Knyckholle Hooke, 47, of Roselle are charged, along with Daniel 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.

The charged crimes took place between January 2015 and October 2021, Platkin said. The Office of the Insurance Fraud Protector began investigating in 2019, he said.

Michelle Rotuno-Johnson contributed to this story.