PHOENIX — An Arizona addiction treatment clinic owner was sentenced Monday to 14 years in federal prison for fraudulently billing the state’s Medicaid program more than $69 million in less than a year.
Rita Ntusa Anagho, 54, of San Tan Valley also was ordered to pay nearly $55 million in restitution and forfeit approximately $9.5 million seized from seven bank accounts she controlled. She also must forfeit nearly $7 million in real estate, according to officials.
Anagho owned and operated Tusa Integrated Clinic LLC, an addiction treatment center that billed the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System more than $69 million between approximately May 2022 and March 2023.
AHCCCS, Arizona’s Medicaid agency, paid the clinic approximately $54.9 million based on false and fraudulent claims, according to court documents.
Many of the patients used in the scheme were Native Americans enrolled in the American Indian Health Care Program, a fee-for-service plan that paid higher reimbursement rates than other AHCCCS health plans.
Prosecutors said Anagho, a licensed nurse practitioner, and her co-conspirators deliberately recruited patients covered under the program and submitted claims for addiction treatment services that either were never provided or were not provided as billed.
“Ms. Anagho’s scheme manipulated a program that was intended to help Native Americans in Arizona,” U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine said. “The 14-year sentence that she received is a sign of how serious and damaging health care fraud is to our society, and how important it is that we stop individuals who undermine the value of these programs.”
The conspirators also paid illegal kickbacks to owners of local sober-living homes in exchange for referring patients to the clinic, prosecutors said.
Anagho and others falsified treatment notes and medical records to conceal the scheme. After Tusa received a subpoena, Anagho instructed former employees to create fraudulent medical records to obstruct the investigation, according to the Justice Department.
Prosecutors also said Anagho laundered proceeds from the scheme.
Anagho pleaded guilty in May 2025 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud.
The FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General investigated the case. Attorneys from the Justice Department’s Health Care Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona prosecuted it.
🔴 Quick Fact Checklist
🔴 Defendant: Rita Ntusa Anagho, 54, of San Tan Valley, Arizona
🔴 Business: Tusa Integrated Clinic LLC
🔴 Type of facility: Addiction treatment center
🔴 Amount billed: More than $69 million
🔴 Amount Medicaid paid: Approximately $54.9 million
🔴 Scheme period: May 2022 through March 2023
🔴 Prison sentence: 14 years
🔴 Restitution: Nearly $55 million
🔴 Bank funds forfeited: Approximately $9.5 million
🔴 Real estate forfeited: Nearly $7 million
🔴 Guilty plea: May 2025
🔴 Offenses: Conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud
🔴 Investigating agencies: FBI and HHS Office of Inspector General