Luxury condo owner charged with stealing $29G in Medicaid benefits

November 14, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
Luxury condo owner indicted on fraud charges, Brooklyn
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Janna Doheny, 43, of Brighton Beach and several other addresses, was indicted yesterday on charges of fraudulently collecting more than $29,000 in Medicaid benefits since 2004.

“It is not a matter of if people who steal money from public assistance programs will be caught; it is when,” said District Attorney Charles J. Hynes. 

According to her initial benefit application, Ms. Doheny claimed that her only source of income for herself and her daughter was $1,550 a month that she earned working at an adult entertainment establishment in Queens.  

On the application, she claimed her bank accounts and other investments totaled less than $5,000.  On the basis of these disclosures the New York City Human Resources Administration enrolled Ms. Doheny in New York State’s Family Health Plus Medicaid Benefits program. 

According to the indictment, investigators from the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General started to look more closely at Ms. Doheny when it was brought to their attention that between 2002 and 2010 Ms. Doheny had purchased five apartments in the luxury seaside Oceana Condominium complex in Brighton Beach.  

The Oceana Condominium Complex’s website advertises prices between $500,000 and $2 million.

Property records for the complex confirmed that Ms. Doheny purchased five apartments in the luxury seaside complex over that period.  A further investigation of property records showed that Ms. Doheny had also purchased properties in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn; Long Beach, Long Island; and multiple properties in South Florida.

The investigation also found Doheny had several bank accounts in her own name as well as an account in the name of her business, Oceana Ventures.  Records show annual deposits to these accounts were in excess $100,000, according to the indictment.  

The charges allege the defendant had $170,000 cash in a safe deposit box on Long Island, as well as jewelry.  Account statements also revealed that the defendant made purchases at Saks Fifth Avenue, Victoria’s Secret, and Amazon.

Charges against Ms. Doheny include Welfare Fraud in the Third Degree, Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, and Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree.  If convicted of the top count, Welfare Fraud in the Third Degree, Ms. Doheny faces a maximum of seven years in prison.

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