A 54-year-old Cameroonian nurse, Rita Ntusa Anagho, has been sentenced to 14 years in a United States federal prison for her role in one of the largest single-clinic Medicaid frauds in Arizona's history. Anagho, a licensed nurse practitioner from San Tan Valley, owned and operated Tusa Integrated Clinic LLC, an addiction-treatment facility that billed the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) for over $69 million in just ten months.
According to the US Department of Justice, Tusa billed AHCCCS more than $69 million between May 2022 and March 2023, with AHCCCS paying approximately $54.9 million on those claims. Prosecutors alleged that the claims were for addiction treatment that was either never delivered or not delivered as billed, and that treatment notes and records were falsified to hide it. Anagho pleaded guilty in May 2025 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud.
The case involved more than just overbilling, with prosecutors alleging that Anagho and co-conspirators paid illegal kickbacks to the owners of numerous sober-living homes in exchange for patient referrals. When Tusa was subpoenaed for documents, she allegedly instructed former employees to fabricate medical records, which is considered obstruction. The Department of Justice also alleged that the proceeds were laundered.
The most damaging aspect of the case is the targeting of Native American patients. The Department of Justice alleged that Anagho and her co-conspirators deliberately sought patients enrolled in the American Indian Health Program (AIHP), which reimbursed at higher rates than other AHCCCS plans. US Attorney Timothy Courchaine stated that her scheme manipulated a program meant to help Native Americans in Arizona.
Anagho's case is part of a larger scandal involving sober-living homes in Arizona. The state's attorney general has described the wider sober-living fraud as one of the biggest government scandals in state history. Investigators found that from 2020, criminal enterprises recruited Native Americans from tribal communities across the Southwest, moved them to homes in the Phoenix area, and billed AHCCCS for services that were never rendered or were delivered under exploitative conditions.
The oversight of the system has been questioned, with a former AHCCCS medical director acknowledging that early warnings about abuse of the American Indian Health Plan were followed by delay, and that there was no reliable mechanism at the time to confirm that people registering under the plan were in fact members of one of Arizona's 22 federally recognized tribes. High reimbursement rates, weak eligibility verification, and a pay-first, audit-later model created the incentive for fraud.
Anagho was ordered to pay almost $55 million in restitution, and separately forfeited almost $9.5 million seized from seven bank accounts she controlled and almost $7 million in real estate. The sentence and restitution order were secured within roughly three years of the state's public action, and the case highlights the exposure of professional migrants who move into high-trust, lightly supervised roles.
Key points
- Rita Ntusa Anagho, a Cameroonian nurse, was sentenced to 14 years in US federal prison for orchestrating a $69 million Medicaid fraud in Arizona.
- The fraud involved targeting Native American patients enrolled in the American Indian Health Program, which reimbursed at higher rates than other AHCCCS plans.
- The case is part of a larger scandal involving sober-living homes in Arizona, with estimates of the total loss ranging from $2.5 billion to $3 billion.
