Addiction Treatment Chain Owner & Company Plead Guilty to Health Care Fraud Conspiracy

PROVIDENCE, RI – The owner of a Rhode Island-based chain of addiction treatment centers and his company, who together defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, and other health insurers out of millions of dollars and shortchanged patients suffering from substance abuse disorder in Rhode Island and Massachusetts out of much-needed counseling and treatment, today pleaded guilty in federal in Providence to health care fraud conspiracy, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

Michael Brier, 61, of Newton, MA, and Recovery Connections Centers of America, Inc. (RCCA) admitted to a federal judge that they failed to provide patients with required counseling sessions and treatment, while simultaneously billing Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care payors for 45-minute counseling sessions on a routine basis even though the sessions were often only 5-10 minutes or less.

Briar and RCCA also admitted that they caused a fraudulent application to be submitted to Medicare which, among other things, misrepresented and concealed the role that Brier was playing in the business and failed to disclose Brier’s 2013 criminal conviction for federal tax crimes, which was relevant to Medicare’s consideration of the application; Brier was sentenced to 27 months incarceration by a federal judge as a result of that 2013 conviction.

Court documents illustrate that, if plea agreements filed in this matter are accepted by the Court, Brier will be sentenced in this case to between six and ten years of incarceration, followed by three years of federal supervised release. Additionally, Brier will be ordered to make restitution of more than $3.4 million and will forfeit assets realized as a result of his criminal conduct, including approximately one million dollars contained in various bank and investment accounts, his interest in a beachfront condominium in Caracol Beach, Panama, a 2020 Mercedes Benz, and a 2019 Lexus RX350.

The corporate entity, RCCA, which is now in receivership, faces maximum penalties of $500,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greater, and up to five years probation.

Briar and RCCA are scheduled to be sentenced on November 6, 2024. The defendants’ sentences will be determined by a federal district court judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Sara Miron Bloom and Kevin Love Hubbard, with the assistance of Assistant United States Attorney Milind M. Shah.

The matter was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. United States Attorney Cunha thanks the IRS, Customs and Border Protection, and the Rhode Island Department of the Attorney General for their assistance in the investigation.  

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