Fresno healthcare CEO claimed to help deceased vets in VA fraud scheme, feds say
An executive of a Fresno-based healthcare company faces 10 years in prison for allegedly defrauding the Department of Veterans affairs more than $7 million.
Authorities arrested Cashmir Chinedu Luke, CEO of Four Corners Health LLC, at San Francisco International Airport on Tuesday as he attempted to board a flight to Nigeria, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California.
Luke, believed to be 66 years old and from Antioch, faces federal criminal charges for the alleged fraud, “including care purportedly rendered to veterans weeks after they had died,” U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said in a statement Wednesday.
Luke was the CEO of Four Corners Health LLC, an entity that provided unskilled in-home nursing and day-to-day care for elderly VA beneficiaries under the Veterans Community Care Program in Fresno, Tulare, Merced, Mariposa, Madera, San Francisco and Contra Costa Counties.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Four Corners Health LLC submitted approximately 10,000 individual false claims of care provided between 2019 and 2024 that resulted in $7 million in reimbursements by the VA through a third-party benefits administrator to Four Corners. The justice department also alleges Four Corners filed claims for days caretakers who were not present with veterans, as well as claims for hours of care beyond those actually worked by caretakers and care for veterans who were actually dead.
Attempts to reach Luke via Four Corners Health LLC were unsuccessful. A number for the company was not in service.
According to the Better Business Bureau, Four Corner Health, LLC has been in business for four years at 4274 N. Blackstone Ave. Four Corners Health is estimated to generate $942,885 in annual revenues, and employs approximately 25 people at its Blackstone location, according to business site Buzzfile.com.
Filings with the Secretary of State show Luke as the agent for a company called “Four Corners Health Inc” incorporated in 2023 at the Blackstone address. The company also had a P.O. Box in Stockton.
Luke was the sole owner of the bank account that received reimbursement payments. He spent reimbursement payments on lavish personal expenses or transferred the funds across a network of bank accounts throughout Asia and Africa.
Luke faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, if convicted.
This case is the product of an investigation by the U.S. Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Calvin Lee is prosecuting the case.
According to federal court records, an individual with the same name was charged in 2008 with conspiracy to commit passport fraud in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. An Order of Detention on file with the court noted that Luke had “ties to Nigeria.”
The order also said there were “discrepancies” with information reported about Luke’s outstanding warrants and outstanding debts, among other concerns.
