United States of America v. Lori Butts

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with health care fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1347.

Lori Butts, previously operated Lordan Care Adult Family Homes, a company that provided residential services to Medicaid beneficiaries. The government authorizes these services on a beneficiary-by-beneficiary basis. All residents in the program are placed in a multi-bedroom apartment that has 24-hour supervision by a caregiver. Some residents also receive one-on-one care from a worker, in addition to this caregiver.

Butts admitted that from July 2019 to December 2020, she billed for hours of care work never provided. In particular, she billed for two workers to provide dedicated service, 24 hours per day, to a single resident—but those caregivers were not present. In addition to personally enriching herself at the expense of taxpayers, Butts took resources away from extraordinarily needy and vulnerable individuals who qualified for a high level of care. Butts’s adult family homes were severely understaffed and experienced frequent police contact, often when staffing levels were insufficient to address volatile or inappropriate resident conduct.

IMPRISONMENT: twenty-eight (28) months as to Count 8; SUPERVISED RELEASE: three (3) years as to Count 8; FINE: None; RESTITUTION: $1,253,920.47; SPECIAL ASSESSMENT: $100.