Federal court records say 54-year-old Demaryl Howard, founder of Milwaukee prenatal nonprofit Fortunate Futures, has signed a plea agreement and is set to plead guilty to felony health-care fraud while forfeiting about $4.3 million. His change-of-plea hearing is scheduled for June 26 at the federal courthouse in downtown Milwaukee.
How prosecutors say the scheme worked
According to federal filings, Howard directed Fortunate Futures employees to falsify billing records, pad service hours and use baby-supply giveaways to coax clients into handing over their Medicaid numbers. Prosecutors say those tactics let the nonprofit bill for services that never happened.
In one filing, the company is accused of logging 10 hours of services in September 2021 for a client who had died the month before – a line you are definitely not supposed to cross in health-care billing. Overall, prosecutors say Fortunate Futures submitted more than $5 million in claims and collected over $4.3 million it was not entitled to, according to the Wisconsin Law Journal.
Part of a wider crackdown
Prosecutors describe the Fortunate Futures case as one piece of a broader federal sweep aimed at prenatal care coordination providers in Milwaukee. The U.S. Attorney’s Office indicted LaKia Jackson in 2024, and federal authorities have brought charges or secured convictions against several other PNCC operators in recent months.
Earlier steps in that crackdown are detailed in releases from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and in local coverage at Urban Milwaukee.
Community impact and racial disparities
Health officials and community advocates say these prosecutions land in the middle of already fragile efforts to close Milwaukee’s stubborn infant-mortality gap. State vital-records data show that non-Hispanic Black infants in Wisconsin die at roughly three times the rate of non-Hispanic white infants, a disparity state leaders have repeatedly labeled urgent, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
Legal path ahead
As part of his agreement, Howard has consented to forfeit $4.3 million. A Fortunate Futures employee, Pongella Welch, is also expected to plead guilty on June 8 to a related charge of making false statements in the delivery of health-care benefits…