FRANKFORT, Ky. — A Louisville clinical social worker has pleaded guilty to orchestrating a multimillion-dollar Medicaid fraud scheme that prosecutors say billed for mental health services never provided — and then used the proceeds to buy luxury cars, including a Mercedes-Benz AMG G63.
Jason C. Ocean, owner of Ocean Behavioral Healthcare, admitted in a Thursday plea agreement that from 2021 to 2022, he worked with two Louisville-based companies — Grace N Mercy Support Services and Grace N Mercy Residence — to place the names of Medicaid members on their patient lists even though those people had not received any treatment. According to his plea agreement, Ocean then authorized false claims to Kentucky’s Medicaid Managed Care Organizations, resulting in more than $9 million in improper payments.
Prosecutors said Ocean, the only licensed clinical social worker at his company, contracted with Grace N Mercy to supposedly provide behavioral health services and peer counseling supervision. In reality, court records say, many of the listed patients had never met him or the Grace N Mercy staff — and some, like a member identified as “M.B.,” were deceased when the bills were submitted…