A federal grand jury has indicted Krameelah Banks, a psychologist based in Little Rock, on multiple charges related to defrauding Medicare and Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield. The indictment includes twenty-three counts of wire fraud, seven counts of making false statements in connection with health care, one count of lying to the FBI, and one count of aggravated identity theft.
The announcement was made by Jonathan Ross, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas; Alicia Corder, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Little Rock Field Office; and Jason Meadows, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Regional Office for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General.
According to the indictment, Banks owned and operated Arkansas Behavioral Center (ABC). While she did provide ongoing psychotherapy for some regular patients, most individuals seen at ABC were referred for single-session pre-surgical psychological evaluations. The indictment alleges that from 2021 through 2023, Banks billed insurers for thousands of hours of services that never occurred by charging Medicare and Blue Cross for ongoing psychotherapy under the names of referral patients who were only seen once. This alleged activity resulted in losses exceeding $500,000 to insurers.
The document further states that Banks submitted claims for services while she was vacationing out-of-state in Florida and Mexico. She is also accused of billing more than 24 hours’ worth of services on certain days and submitting claims for over 130 sessions involving patients who had already died.
When questioned about disputed claims, Banks allegedly created fictitious records to support her billings and reused nearly identical documentation when responding to both Medicare and Blue Cross inquiries. The indictment also accuses her of misleading FBI investigators by attributing any overbilling issues to her online calendaring software.
“An indictment contains only allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.”
