The owner of a New Jersey counseling center admitted her role in a healthcare fraud scheme involving hundreds of false claims. Maria P. Cosentino, 60, of Garfield, New Jersey, pleaded guilty in Newark federal court to an information charging her with participating in a healthcare fraud scheme. According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court: Cosentino owned Bergen Alliance Counseling Services, which provided counseling services and mental health treatment to children, families, couples, and adults. She admitted that for years she submitted false claims to private health insurance plans for counseling sessions that she never provided. Cosentino falsely claimed that various individuals had received counseling at the center when in fact they had been out of the country, had ceased attending the practice, or had never visited the counseling center at all. The false claims caused insurance plans to issue reimbursement checks to the center even though the individuals had never received any treatment. Cosentino kept the illicit profits, which totaled more than $700,000.
