POUGHKEEPSIE – Federal authorities have filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Maranatha Human Services, Inc., with an office in Poughkeepsie, and its chief executive officer, Henry Alfonso Coley, for falsely claiming that millions of dollars expended to benefit for-profit ventures owned and controlled by Coley and Maranatha, as well as payments to cover Coley’s personal costs and excessive payments to Coley’s family members, were reasonable and necessary costs in connection with Maranatha’s provision of Medicaid-funded services to individuals with developmental disabilities.
Maranatha is a non-profit organization founded by Coley in 1988.
The government’s complaint alleged that, with its board’s approval, Maranatha funded for-profit companes operated by Coley, paid excessive salaries and consulting fees to Coley’s family members, often in exchange for little to no work; and paid for tens of thousands of dollars of Coley’s personal expenses.
The federal government also alleged that from 2010 to 2019, Coley and Maranatha submitted to the State of New York cost reports that falsely claimed millions of dollars in those expenses as “allowable” costs, which fraudulently inflated Maranatha’s Medicaid reimbursement rates and resulted in Marantha receiving millions of dollars in Medicaid funds to which it was not entitled.
At the same time as the U.S. Government filed its lawsuit, it resolved the claims against Coley through a settlement approved in federal court with Coley paying $88,000 to the government and $132,000 to New York State to resolve the state claims, for a total recovery of $220,000.
