Attorney General Josh Stein announced that Lakia Lateefah Washington of Clayton pleaded guilty to defrauding the North Carolina Medicaid program of more than $800,000. She faces up to 10 years in prison and a potential fine. Washington was a licensed mental health counselor with the North Carolina Medicaid program since 2015 and owned L.W. Therapeutics & Consulting, LLC. She allegedly paid a fee to get the names, dates of birth, and/or Medicaid beneficiary numbers of Medicaid beneficiaries. Washington would then allegedly use that information to fraudulently submit claims to Medicaid for services she never provided. Some of those fraudulent billings including allegedly billing Medicaid for more than 24 one-hour mental health appointments in a single day, billing Medicaid for in-person services provided in different parts of eastern North Carolina, and submitting claims for services provided to an unborn child.
