A third Indigenous family is suing Arizona over allegations that state officials failed to stop massive Medicaid fraud schemes that caused the death of their loved one.
Avondale police on April 6, 2023, found 34-year-old Thomas Acey Russell dead on a mattress on the floor of a residence that was being used by “sham entities,” according to the lawsuit, which names both the Arizona Department of Health Services and the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, Arizona’s Medicaid agency, as defendants in the case.
The lawsuit, filed by Russell’s parents, is the third known wrongful death suit to be filed against the state this year connected with massive Medicaid fraud schemes that involved allegations of human trafficking that preyed on Indigenous people and is reported to have bilked taxpayers out of up to $2.5 billion.
Investigators and state leaders announced the fraud schemes during a multi-agency news conference May 16 and, at that time, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes characterized what had occurred as a “stunning failure of government.”