Owner of Addiction Treatment Chain That Billed for Recovery Services Not Provided Sentenced to More Than Eight Years in Federal Prison in Health Care Fraud Conspiracy

Press Release

PROVIDENCE, RI - The owner of a now defunct Rhode Island-based chain of addiction treatment centers who, as described in court documents "embezzled and cheated his way through life," has been sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison for defrauding Medicare, Medicaid, and other health insurers out of millions of dollars, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

Michael Brier, 62, of Newton, MA, previously admitted to a federal judge that he and his company, Recovery Connections Centers of America, Inc. (RCCA), short changed patients suffering from substance abuse disorders in Rhode Island and Massachusetts by failing to provide them with required counseling sessions and treatment that were an important part of their care, while simultaneously billed Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care payors for those sessions. In many cases, RCCA routinely billed for 45-minute counseling sessions, while in fact providing sessions that were only 5-10 minutes or less in length.

"Michael Brier held out his business as a lifeline to vulnerable patients - men and women fighting to turn their lives around and escape the grim toll of addiction, but instead used it as a front for fraud that shortchanged those patients and lined his own pockets at taxpayer's expense," remarked U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha. "Instead of providing the care these patients required and deserved, Brier directed his own employees not to provide care the sessions that these patients needed, that his own therapists wanted to provide, and that the law required, while at the same time wildly overbilling federal and private health care payors. Today's sentence should leave no doubt that those who attempt to feed their own greed from funds intended to care for those in need will be held accountable."

"Brier and RCCA orchestrated a fraud scheme that not only robbed taxpayer funds from Medicare and Medicaid, but also undermined the health of vulnerable patients who sought help for their addiction," said Special Agent in Charge Roberto Coviello of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. "Today's sentencing should serve as a stern reminder that those who seek to exploit our nation's health care system at the expense of patients and taxpayers will be brought to justice."

"Today's sentence holds this career criminal accountable for capitalizing on the opioid crisis by defrauding taxpayer-funded federal health care programs out of millions of dollars and leaving the patients who came to his clinics deprived of treatment," said Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division. "Michael Brier is a liar, a cheat, and the mastermind of this sophisticated scheme, and the FBI and our partners are gratified we could shut him down, along with his chain of addiction treatment centers, which were little more than a front for fraud."

As described in a criminal complaint filed in this matter, under the guise of running recovery clinics that supposedly provided much-needed medical and therapy services to men and women in Rhode Island and Massachusetts who needed help in their struggles with addiction, the defendants shortchanged their patients, providing them with little to no therapy or support, all the while billing Medicare and other insurers as if they had fully served their patients. For example, Brier and RCCA billed the government or insurance providers for 45 minutes sessions when, in fact, patients were actually seen for less than 15 minutes - in some cases substantially less than that. One counselor was known as the "five-minute queen" because the counseling sessions would last that long and no longer. In another instance, an employee was equipped with a bell that they would ring to ensure that the flow of patients moved along briskly.

Briar and RCCA previously 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.

In this most recent matter, Brier was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Mary S. McElroy to 98 months of incarceration to be followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $3,515,100. At the government's request, the court ordered Brier to forfeit approximately one million dollars contained in various bank and investment accounts, his interest in a beachfront property in Caracol Beach, Panama, and two luxury vehicles.

RCCA was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mary S. McElroy to one year probation and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $3,515,100.

The case was 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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Updated January 7, 2025