Feds seize boat, SUV, cash in medical fraud investigation involving Williamsburg therapist
The FBI has seized a boat, an SUV, and several bank accounts as part of a insurance fraud investigation into a James City County therapist.
Federal prosecutors contend that Maria Kokolis and her company -- Pamisage Integrated Health -- bilked private health-care firms and the government by submitting false bills for “psychotherapy sessions” that never took place.
The FBI asserts, for example, that many weight loss sessions by Pamisage’s “health coaches” were falsely billed as pyschotherapy sessions done by Kokolis.
An FBI special agent said in recent court filing that the company submitted more than $2 million in false bills to Anthem, Medicaid and others.
“Investigators estimate that greater than 90% of Kokolis’ billing was fraudulent,” Norfolk FBI Special Agent Alex Cava wrote in a “complaint of forfeiture” filed July 20.
The document -- filed by federal prosecutors in U.S. District Court in Newport News -- says the FBI seized a “2019 Carolina Skiff Vessel,” with a Yamaha outboard motor and a trailer, as well as a 2019 Jeep Wrangler Sahara SUV.
Agents also seized “all funds” from three bank accounts at Citizens Farmers and two bank accounts at Morgan Stanley, the document shows.
Those assets -- being held at the FBI’s local headquarters in Chesapeake -- are now the subject of a civil forfeiture proceeding at Newport News federal court. Federal forfeiture law says that assets derived from unlawful activity “shall be subject to forfeiture to the United States.” A federal judge will rule on whether the FBI is entitled to take them.
No criminal charges have so far been filed against Kokolis or her company, court records show. When asked whether any charges are forthcoming, U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Joshua Stueve said he could not “confirm or deny” that an investigation is underway.
Pamisage Integrated Health, whose doors are now closed, was located at the Williamsburg Indoor Sports Complex, a privately owned facility at 5700 Warhill Trail, near Williamsburg.
Pamisage is no longer based there, according to an attendant who answered the phone at the complex on Tuesday. The complex’s owner, Chris Haywood, did not return a call.
The FBI’s forfeiture complaint says Pamisage touted itself on its website as “a center for integrative behavioral medicine,” with “a focus on weight management issues.”
“Services provided at Pamisage included professional counseling, weight loss coaching, physical therapy, yoga, and fitness,” Cava wrote in the FBI’s forfeiture complaint.
Many of those services, he wrote, were offered by “health coaches” who were “unqualified to provide psychotherapy services.” Yet their work, he said, were submitted as pychotherapy.
Kokolis, 45, is a licensed professional counselor who received a master’s in counseling from the College of William & Mary, the complaint said.
Psychotherapy is defined as “the treatment of mental illness and behavioral disturbances” -- and does not include weight-loss programs.
The court records show that the FBI executed search warrants earlier this year on Kokolis’ house, business and the company’s electronic health records. From January 2018 to July of 2019, the FBI’s complaint says, Kokolis and her company submitted 332 bills for more than 24 hours in services on particular dates.
“There were 90 separate dates when Kokolis’ billing was so extreme that it exceeded 100 or more sessions of psychotherapy service on a single day,” the complaint said.
“Further investigation corroborated this fraudulent billing scheme taking place at Pamisage under the direction of Kokolis,” Cava wrote in the complaint.
“It was regular practice for Kokolis to submit claims for psychotherapy services that were never provided,” he wrote.
He also asserted that the company submitted bills for time that Kokolis’ teenage daughter -- the office intern -- worked. The hours, he wrote, were billed “as if Kokolis had performed a psychotherapy service.”
“Kokolis also billed for phantom therapy sessions,” the complaint added.
Kokolis declined to speak about the case Tuesday.
Her attorney, state Sen. Thomas K. Norment Jr., returned a call Tuesday afternoon on her behalf.
Norment termed the seizure of assets a “usual protocol” by the government during criminal investigations into insurance fraud.
“We will continue to to monitor and work with the government on it,” he said.
As for the contention that Kokolis and her company billed more than 24 hours for many of the days, Norment said the company had lots of employees providing services to many clients.
“They had a fairly significant staff that work there, and they had a significant clientele,” he said. “There could have been 15-plus people working on a particular day. And there may be between 50 and 150 clients ... coming through there.”
Regarding the FBI’s assertion that Kokolis was coding weight loss sessions as being for “pyschotherapy,:” Norment pointed out that the company offered a range of services.
“That’s one of the discussions we’re having with the government,” he said. “Mrs. Kokolis has been pretty forthcoming to have that conversation.”
No date has been set for a forfeiture hearing.
Peter Dujardin, 757-247-4749, pdujardin@dailypress.com
———
©2020 the Daily Press (Newport News, Va.)
Visit the Daily Press (Newport News, Va.) at www.dailypress.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
