Former transportation company owner indicted again for money laundering in $19M scheme
Courtesy
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey
Already facing criminal charges for filing $19-million in false Medicaid claims, the owner of a Westminster-based transportation company is now being charged with laundering the money he generated from the alleged scheme.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced the new charges Thursday for New Hampshire man Michael Davini, 57, owner of RiteWay, a non-emergency transportation service that brought MassHealth members to methadone clinics before it ceased operation in 2015.
Davini faces three charges of money laundering in addition to seven other charges he’s faced since 2016, when he and and three managers were indicted for repeatedly filing fraudulent MassHealth bills for transportation services that never happened. Some of those claims, according to the state, were filed for individuals who were hospitalized or deceased.
The company is alleged to have submitted fraudulent claims for non-emergency wheelchair van transportation to ambulatory patients and offered -- and paid -- cash kickbacks to MassHealth members to recruit others to use its services.
According to Healey’s office, Davini laundered and attempted to shield more than $5.5 million from the government by transferring the money from the company’s account to accounts at an investment brokerage firm.
When MassHealth notified Davini it was suspending payments to the company, he allegedly moved $3 million in cash and securities from the firm to a new account under his wife’s name.
Davini is alleged to have transferred the title to two homes he owned to his wife around the same time.
“We allege this individual made clear attempts to disguise millions of dollars in illicit funds obtained through a massive Medicaid false billing scheme,” said Healey. “We will continue to take steps to protect the integrity and success of our MassHealth program and not allow taxpayers and patients to be taken advantage of for personal profit.”
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