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A Mesa, Arizona, woman, Diane Marie Moore, has been sentenced to over five years in federal prison and ordered to pay nearly $22 million in restitution after pleading guilty to a fraudulent billing scheme targeting Native Americans seeking behavioral health treatment. Moore's scheme involved exploiting Arizona's Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) and its American Indian Health Program through her state-approved facilities, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday.

Moore, who operates companies providing behavioral health counseling -- Harmony Family Services (HFS) for instance, Harmon Family Services II and Logan Family Health LLC--admits wire fraud, money laundering and those things. She has also given up four homes, seven luxury vehicles and designer clothes as part of the deal.

Moore began in 2020 to illegally acquire AHCCCS enrollee identification numbers and bill for services not rendered. Often she submitted false claims that the facilities treated patients for up to 90 days after their last visit. Some of these fraudulent claims included billing patients who were deceased or incarcerated.

Moore's fraudulent billing practices are part of a larger scheme that led to a $2 billion loss for Arizona, impacting Native American communities. The investigation, one of the largest healthcare scams in Arizona's history, has led to 45 indictments so far.

Authorities have criticized Moore for taking advantage of a system designed to serve vulnerable communities, with U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino stating, "Defendant misused this program... to benefit herself."

The fraud has spawned lawsuits and further investigations into the state's regulatory breakdowns that allowed Moore and others to exploit the system for personal gain.