PROVIDENCE – Michael Brier was on probation after serving time for tax evasion when he began defrauding the government and private health care insurers out of millions of dollars – and using people needing drug treatment services to orchestrate his scam.
On Thursday, Brier, the owner of Rhode Island-based Recovery Connections Centers of America, Inc., pleaded guilty to defrauding Medicare and other insurers while shortchanging patients with substance abuse disorders.
Brier, 61, of Newton, Massachusetts, faces between six and ten years in prison if a federal judge accepts his plea agreement.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 6 in U.S. District Court.
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'Brazen and egregious' fraud against the government
In announcing Brier’s arrest in March 2023, U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Cunha said, “the allegations set forth in this case represent one of the most brazen and egregious examples of health care fraud the FBI has seen here in Rhode Island in recent history,” Cunha said.
Brier ran the agency (with offices in Rhode Island and Massachusetts) from a headquarters on Wickenden Street with the help of a supervisor, Mi Ok Bruining of Warwick.
The scheme worked by billing insurance companies for 45-minute counseling sessions for each patient when, in reality, each actually received only a few minutes of attention.
Bruining earned the nickname “five-minute queen," officials said, for her ability to reduce a patient’s counseling session to a bare few minutes but bill insurers for a full session.
Officials said Bruining trained other workers in how to fraudulently bill . And one former employee was equipped with a bell to ensure the flow of patients moved briskly along.
The agency crammed in appointments, billing for more client sessions than could be provided in a 24-hour day.
In November, Bruining, a clinical social worker, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
She admitted she and staff under her direction routinely submitted false and fraudulent claims for psychotherapy and counseling services worth more than $3.5 million.
She is scheduled to be sentenced in September.
The ple
Brier was convicted in 2013 of tax evasion and sentenced to 27 months in prison.
On Thursday he also admitted he and his agency failed to disclose his criminal conviction on a Medicare application.
Under the plea agreement he must pay $3.4 million in restitution and forfeit assets “realized as a result of his criminal conduct,” including about $1 million, his interest in a beachfront condominium in Caracol Beach Panama, a 2020 Mercedes Benz and a 2019 Lexus RX350.
The corporation Recovery Connections Centers of America, Inc. is now in receivership.
Contact Tom Mooney at: tmooney@providencejournal.com
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: He used addiction recovery patients to defraud the government. Now, he's pleaded guilty.
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