Cashmir Chinedu Luke, a Nigerian-born chief executive of aCalifornia home healthcare company, has been arrested in the United States forallegedly orchestrating a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme targeting militaryveterans. According to a statement by the US attorney’s office, theCEO was arrested at San Francisco International Airport while attempting toboard a flight to Nigeria. The statement said he is charged following a criminalcomplaint alleging that he fraudulently obtained more than $7 million inpayments from the department of veterans affairs (VA) for services that werenever actually rendered, including care purportedly rendered to veterans weeksafter they had died. “According to court documents, between December 2019 andJuly 2024, Cashmir Chinedu Luke, believed to be 66, of Antioch, operated FourCorners Health LLC,” the statement reads. “That entity provided unskilled in-home nursing andday-to-day care for elderly VA beneficiaries under the Veterans Community CareProgram. Four Corners provided services in Fresno, Tulare, Merced, Mariposa,Madera, San Francisco, and Contra Costa Counties.” The attorney’s office said Luke engaged in a five-yearscheme to bill the VA for hours of care that were not actually rendered toveterans. “Luke caused Four Corners to submit approximately 10,000individual false claims of care provided that caused the VA, through itsthird-party benefits administrator, to reimburse Four Corners $7 million forduplicate claims for care actually provided, claims for days caretakers werenot present with veterans, claims for hours of care beyond those actuallyworked by caretakers, and claims of care for veterans who were actually dead,”the statement added. “Luke served as the sole owner and billing representativefor Four Corners and actively deceived the VA’s third-party benefitsadministrator as it attempted to recover some of the fraudulently paidreimbursements. “This allowed the Four Corners billing scheme to continue.Luke personally profited from the scheme as the sole owner of the bank accountthat received the reimbursement payments. “Luke spent reimbursement payments immediately after beingpaid by the VA, either by spending lavishly on personal expenses or by promptlytransferring the funds across a network of bank accounts throughout Asia andAfrica.” If convicted, Luke faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Any sentence, however, would be at the discretion of thecourt after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the federalsentencing guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
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