Woman pleads guilty to defrauding VA out of about $1.8M
A Michigan woman pleaded guilty Friday in Las Vegas to defrauding the Department of Veterans Affairs out of nearly $1.8 million in veteran benefits.
Claudia Ann Merrill, 61, of Farmington Hills, Michigan, is scheduled to be sentenced May 15 by Senior U.S. District Judge James Mahan.
According to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office in Las Vegas, court records show that from January 2014 through October 2019, Merrill devised and executed a scheme to obtain money and property from the VA.
“Merrill admitted that she submitted false applications in the names of veterans, as well as the surviving spouses of veterans, in connection with VA health care programs known as Veterans Pension and VA Aid and Attendance,” according to the statement. “In furtherance of the scheme, Merrill altered medical records to ensure that the veteran or surviving spouse’s physical or mental condition rendered them eligible for the benefits.”
She then fraudulently directed benefit payments into bank accounts she controlled, and concealed the benefits from the veterans and surviving spouses. As a result of the scheme, Merrill fraudulently caused the VA to pay out benefits that it otherwise would not have paid.
Merrill has agreed to pay about $1.8 million in restitution, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
The case was the product of a joint investigation by the VA’s Office of the Inspector General and the FBI’s Las Vegas field office.
Contact Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0361. Follow @CarriGeer on Twitter.
