A father and daughter, both of Cordova, Maryland, were charged in a five-count indictment, unsealed on April 11, 2024, with conspiracy to commit Social Security fraud and theft of public money, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, mail fraud, financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult or elderly person, and fraud in the first degree against a senior citizen.
According to court documents, beginning in November 2017, the defendants conspired and engaged in a scheme to deceive the Superior Court of the District of Columbia into appointing them as co-guardians and co-conservators of a vulnerable adult. At the time, the vulnerable adult was 81 years of age and suffered from severe cognitive impairments that rendered her incapacitated and required her to reside in a nursing home located in Washington DC.
While the vulnerable adult resided in the nursing home, the defendants were required, in part, to act as fiduciaries and apply the vulnerable adult’s money towards her support, care, habilitation, and treatment. Instead, the indictment alleges, the defendants used their authority as co-guardians and co-conservators to redirect US Social Security Administration (SSA) benefits intended for, and checking account funds belonging to, the vulnerable adult to their personal bank accounts for their own benefit.
In total, the defendants diverted more than $21,000 in Social Security benefits and obtained over $85,000 from the vulnerable adult’s bank account for their personal use. They did not use these funds to pay for the vulnerable adult’s care.
Compliance Perspective
Issue
Financial abuse takes many different forms. Someone with a legal obligation to handle a resident’s finances may fail to use the funds for necessities like food, clothing, shelter, and healthcare, putting the resident at risk of harm. People with legal obligations to handle finances include fiduciaries such as agents under power of attorney, trustees, guardians, conservators, Social Security representative payees, and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) fiduciaries. If family or other individuals step in to manage a resident’s finances, some may try to take money or assets for themselves, which can seriously impact the resident’s finances and may result in an inability to pay their nursing home or assisted living community bills. A facility is required to report any allegations of misappropriation or exploitation of a resident’s funds or personal property to the State Agency and to appropriate local authorities.
Discussion Points
- Review your policies on misappropriation of residents’ belongings or funds. Also review your policies and procedures for working with residents’ financial caregivers. Ensure that your policies are reviewed at least annually and updated when new information becomes available.
- Train all staff about abuse, neglect, and exploitation of residents, including misappropriation of personal belongings or funds. Also train appropriate staff to monitor payments to the nursing home or assisted living community, as unpaid bills may be a result of financial abuse of the resident. Document that the training occurred, and place the signed document in each employee’s education file.
- Audit to ensure that residents’ bills are being paid, and that resident financial caregiver documentation is on file, such as copies of a power of attorney instrument, Social Security representative payee authorization, or a guardianship court order. Staff should be aware of compliance and ethics concerns and understand their responsibility to report any violations to their supervisor, the compliance and ethics officer, or via the anonymous hotline.
*This news alert has been prepared by Med-Net Concepts, LLC for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice.*
