Three people tied to a Henrico, Virginia, mental health agency have been convicted in an $11 million Medicaid fraud scheme built around false “Team Treatment” claims, hotel kickbacks and fraudulent patient records.
Twin sisters E’mon Ambers and Armone’ Ambers, both 31, and Traquan Brown, 32, were found guilty by a federal jury on September 9. E’mon was chief executive officer of Divine Youth Counseling LLC, Armone’ was its program director, and Brown worked for the agency and purported to provide counseling services.
Between January 2022 and October 2025, Divine Youth submitted more than $11 million in fraudulent claims to Medicaid for Crisis Stabilization and Mobile Crisis mental health services, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
A central part of the scheme involved billing Medicaid as though two mental health professionals had simultaneously treated a recipient when, in reality, at most one professional was present. Federal prosecutors said those false “Team Treatment” claims alone caused millions of dollars in Medicaid losses.
Divine Youth Billed for Two Workers When at Most One Was Present
The fraudulent billing involved Medicaid programs designed for people experiencing acute mental health crises. Divine Youth represented that recipients were receiving team-based Crisis Stabilization or Mobile Crisis services from two mental health professionals at the same time.
Evidence presented at trial showed that those claims did not match the care actually provided. DOJ said at most one mental health professional was present during services billed as “Team Treatment,” allowing Divine Youth to submit millions of dollars in false claims.
The agency’s billing extended beyond a small number of isolated transactions. Earlier federal court documents said Divine Youth billed Medicaid more than $27 million overall during the relevant period and falsely claimed more than $11 million in mental health services involving more than 600 recipients.
More Than $470,000 Paid for Hotel Rooms Used as Kickbacks
The scheme also involved more than $470,000 spent on hotel rooms for Medicaid recipients. Prosecutors said the rooms were used to encourage recipients to obtain Crisis Stabilization or Mobile Crisis services from Divine Youth.
Federal anti-kickback law prohibits certain payments or other remuneration intended to induce the use of services paid for by federal health care programs. The September 9 verdict included kickback convictions for E’mon and Armone’ Ambers.
Earlier charging documents also alleged that Divine Youth staff were instructed to conceal the hotel arrangement in patient documentation, including by avoiding references to hotels or motels in progress notes.
Court Records Described ChatGPT Notes and Impossible Service Hours
Federal charging documents described additional methods prosecutors accused Divine Youth staff of using to support false claims. Those allegations included claiming face-to-face services had been provided in Central Virginia when the purported provider was traveling elsewhere and billing Medicaid for overlapping service times that could not have occurred as documented.
One example in the second superseding indictment alleged that E’mon recorded Crisis Stabilization services near Richmond on May 22, 2022, while social media showed her in Mexico. The same filing said E’mon and Armone’ claimed to have jointly provided Team Treatment in Richmond on another date when both were in Miami.
The indictment also alleged that staff were directed to fabricate progress notes for services that were never provided using generative AI platforms including ChatGPT. In an August 2024 message quoted in the filing, Armone’ said she had completed three weeks of notes and supervision logs in two hours after sharing a prompt for creating clinical progress notes.
Another example alleged that Brown claimed 40 hours of mental health services during the same eight-hour period for five recipients in five different locations. Prosecutors said no services were actually provided by Brown that day, while Divine Youth billed Medicaid more than $21,000 for the purported work.
Nearly $6 Million, Two G-Wagons and a Texas Home Face Forfeiture
The court will hold a separate forfeiture proceeding on December 14. Federal prosecutors are seeking forfeiture of $5,937,156.30 already seized under a federal warrant, along with other property connected to the money laundering offenses.
Those assets include two matching Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUVs and a residence purchased in Richmond, Texas. Court filings say E’mon and Armone’ bought the two 2021 G-Wagons in December 2022 using approximately $243,500 drawn from a Divine Youth bank account whose deposits consisted almost entirely of Medicaid payments.
The government has also alleged that Medicaid proceeds were diverted for other personal benefits, including luxury vehicles and clothing. The December proceeding will determine the defendants’ forfeiture obligations following the convictions.
E’mon and Armone’ Face Mandatory Prison Time
E’mon and Armone’ were convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud, health care fraud, aggravated identity theft, payment of kickbacks and transactional money laundering. E’mon faces a mandatory minimum of two years in prison and a statutory maximum totaling 92 years, while Armone’ faces a mandatory minimum of two years and a maximum totaling 42 years.
Brown was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud and faces up to 10 years in prison. All three defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on December 15. The FBI’s Richmond Field Office and the Virginia Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the case.
Patients Can Report Claims for Treatment They Never Received
The Virginia Attorney General’s Office warns that billing for treatment never provided and inflating the amount or level of care actually delivered are common forms of health care fraud.
Medicaid recipients who encounter records showing counseling sessions, providers, treatment dates or levels of service they do not recognize should preserve the information and question the discrepancy rather than assuming it is simply a billing error. A claim showing two providers or lengthy treatment when only one person was present for a shorter visit can be particularly important to report.
Suspected Virginia Medicaid provider fraud can be reported to the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit at 1-800-371-0824. The office also accepts supporting documentation and recommends retaining copies of materials submitted with a complaint.