HOUSTON — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Texas, Southern), published as received.

HOUSTON – A 64-year-old man has been ordered to federal prison after his conviction on all counts as charged for leading a Medicare fraud scheme involving the submission of falsified medical records, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

The jury deliberated for less than two hours following a three-day trial before finding Paul Njoku guilty May 21.

U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett has now ordered Njoku to serve 75 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by two years of supervised release. In handing down the sentence, the court noted his familiarity with the evidence and noted Njoku’s aggravating role in the fraud conspiracy.

Njoku owned and operated a home health care agency called Opnet Health Care Services Inc. doing business as P & P Health Care Services. Njoku was the owner and CEO.

The jury heard testimony from witnesses that Njoku, or others working at his direction, forged signatures of doctors and nurses. Specifically, Njoku and others cut out old signatures and taped them onto newly created doctors’ orders, nursing notes and nursing assessments. Medicare required home health agencies to maintain these documents to obtain payment for providing home health services. Njoku then submitted the falsified records in response to a request for records from Medicare.

The jury also heard about a registered nurse who had departed Opnet in 2017. Njoku continued using her signature on nursing notes and assessments—including records which had to be signed by a registered nurse—in 2018 and 2019 without her knowledge or consent.

A witness also testified that Njoku bribed a doctor in exchange for approving home health services.

From 2015 to 2019, Opnet billed Medicare over $400,000 in claims for home health services and received over $360,000. Opnet did not maintain the required documentation for many of them and later falsified records to support the claims.

During the trial, a representative testified that Medicare would not have paid these claims had Medicare known there was no documentation or that they were based on falsified records.

The defense attempted to blame another person for the fraud. The jury did not believe those claims and found Njoku guilty as charged.

Njoku was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The FBI, Department of Health and Human Services-Office of the Inspector General and Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christian Latham and Kathryn Olson are prosecuting the case.