Federal Jury Convicts Three in $11 Million Medicaid Fraud and Kickback Scheme at Virginia Mental Health Agency

A federal jury in the Eastern District of Virginia has convicted three defendants for their roles in a scheme that submitted more than $11 million in fraudulent claims to Medicaid through a Henrico-based mental health agency. Twin sisters E’mon and Armone’ Ambers, both 31, and Traquan Brown, 32, were found guilty in connection with the operations of Divine Youth Counseling, LLC.

According to evidence presented at trial, E’mon Ambers served as the agency’s Chief Executive Officer and Armone’ Ambers was its Program Director. Between January 2022 and October 2025, Divine Youth submitted fraudulent claims to Medicaid for mental health services known as Crisis Stabilization and Mobile Crisis. The defendants falsely claimed that two mental health professionals simultaneously provided “Team Treatment” services to Medicaid recipients, when at most a single professional was present.

The defendants also paid more than $470,000 in illegal kickbacks in the form of hotel rooms purchased for Medicaid recipients, using the rooms to incentivize them to obtain services from Divine Youth. E’mon and Armone’ Ambers 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. Brown was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud.

Sentencing is scheduled for December 15. The Court will hold a separate forfeiture proceeding on December 14, with the government seeking forfeiture of $5,937,156.30 in seized funds, two Mercedes-Benz G-Wagons, and a residence in Richmond, Texas. This case reflects the government’s aggressive pursuit of Medicaid fraud and illegal kickback arrangements through the Department of Justice’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud. The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Richmond Field Office and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Virginia Office of the Attorney General.