The indictment unsealed on Nov. 5 against three people tied to a D.C. Medicaid provider asks a federal court for five vehicles: a 2024 Mercedes-Benz G550, a 2023 Mercedes-Benz G550, a 2023 Land Rover Defender, a 2020 Mercedes-Benz C300 and a 2022 Mercedes-Benz 2500 cargo van. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia calls the group “a fleet of luxury vehicles” in its announcement of the case. A cargo van is not luxury transportation, and it is on the list anyway, which shows what the forfeiture statute measures: whether the money behind a vehicle traces to the alleged fraud, not what the vehicle is.
What prosecutors allege about Quality Healthcare Services
The release names three defendants. Mwasi Songambele, 52, of Laurel, Maryland, is described as the controlling executive of Quality Healthcare Services, LLC. Maya Cheyo, 31, of Brambleton, Virginia, is the company’s chief operating officer and human resources director. Vanessa Kuh, 29, of Lanham, Maryland, is a community support worker there. According to the release, the company billed D.C. Medicaid about $14 million for mental health rehabilitation services from January 2022 through February 2025.
Prosecutors allege Songambele told staff to bill every telehealth encounter as four units, about an hour, even when a call lasted only minutes, and to use all 600 units Medicaid had authorized for each consumer over 180 days regardless of medical necessity. Songambele is charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, four counts of health care fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Cheyo and Kuh each face one conspiracy count and two counts of health care fraud. The release describes a 10-count indictment, case number 26-CR-263. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said, “No one stealing from taxpayer-funded programs is safe.”
An indictment is an accusation. The three defendants have not been convicted, they are presumed innocent, and the release says the indictment “seeks” forfeiture. It does not say whether agents have taken possession of any of the vehicles, whether they are financed, or how the cargo van was used. The release also spells the Land Rover as “Rover Defender,” which is presumably the Land Rover Defender.
Forfeiture follows the money, not the vehicle
The forfeiture rule for federal health care offenses is in 18 U.S.C. § 982(a)(7). After a conviction, the court must order the defendant to give up property that is derived, directly or indirectly, from “gross proceeds traceable to the commission of the offense.” Traceability is the test. A G550 bought with Medicaid receipts and a Sprinter-class cargo van bought with the same receipts are the same thing to the statute. Mercedes sells the 2500 cargo van in the U.S. as the Sprinter, and the release does not use that name. Whether prosecutors can document that trail for each of the five vehicles is what the case will turn on for this part of the indictment.
A later sale does not erase the government’s claim
The procedure comes from 21 U.S.C. § 853, which § 982(b)(1) makes govern these cases. Under it, the government’s interest in forfeitable property “vests in the United States upon the commission of the act giving rise to forfeiture.” The claim runs from the date of the alleged crime, not the date of a verdict. A vehicle sold in between can still be ordered forfeited unless the buyer proves at a hearing that he or she was a bona fide purchaser for value who was “reasonably without cause to believe” the property was subject to forfeiture.
Lenders and other third parties are not left out. Anyone claiming a legal interest in the property can petition the court, but only after a forfeiture order, in a separate hearing, and the petitioner has to establish the interest by a preponderance of the evidence. A third party cannot step into the criminal trial itself. For a finance manager, a lien on a car like these is a claim to be proved. The statute does not treat it as an automatic shield, and the release does not say whether a lender holds paper on any of the five.
Nothing is forfeited yet, and where the cars go if it happens
Section 982(a)(7) has the court order forfeiture “in imposing sentence,” so the indictment alone does not move title to anyone. If a court does order these vehicles forfeited, the U.S. Marshals Service says it manages and sells assets forfeited by the Justice Department, including vehicles, and holds public online and live auctions, with Skipco Auto Auction listed as its partner for automobiles. A 2023 G550 could end up in a public auction lot.
Vehicles turn up on these lists often. The Auto Wire has covered an Ohio Medicaid fraud case in which a McLaren and a Bentley were seized, an Iowa lawyer sent to prison over a Medicaid claim tied to a crashed Rolls-Royce, and a crypto thief who bought 28 supercars. A vehicle leaves paper: a title, a registration, usually insurance and often a loan file in someone’s name. That is a plausible reason investigators find them, though the release does not say how they identified these five.
The docket for 26-CR-263 is where to watch next: any plea or verdict, then any order of forfeiture, then any petitions from lenders or buyers. If the money trail holds up in court, should a cargo van used in a business be forfeited the same way as a G550, or should courts treat a work vehicle differently from a status purchase?