Operators of chain of opioid addiction centers in Rhode Island and Massachusetts face federal fraud charges

The feds have arrested two people they say bilked government medical assistance and the nation’s opioid crisis for millions through shoddy services and fraudulent billing at their chain of addiction treatment centers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

“The allegations set forth in this case represent one of the most brazen and egregious examples of health care fraud the FBI has seen here in Rhode Island in recent history, and make no mistake, it is not a victimless crime,” said Joseph Bonavolonta, the special agent in charge of the Boston FBI office.

“Any time the integrity of our federal health care programs is undermined,” he added, “we all pay the price through the cost of higher insurance premiums, greater out-of-pocket expenses, and co-pays, and even reduced or lost benefits.”

Michael Brier, 60, of Newton, and Mi Ok Bruining, 62, of Warwick, R.I., were arrested Tuesday and appeared in U.S. District Court in Providence on charges of health care fraud. Brier was additionally charged in the complaint with aggravated identity theft, money laundering and obstruction.

Brier, a former tax preparer, according to an affidavit filed with the complaint, is no stranger to federal fraud charges. He pleaded guilty in 2019 to underreporting more than $1 million in income to the IRS from 2004 to 2009 and to criminal contempt for violating a judge’s order to not prepare taxes for others. He was sentenced to more than two years in prison for that charge.

He’s listed as the registered agent for an entity known as Recovery Connections Centers of America, Inc., which operates locations under the “Recovery Connection” name throughout Rhode Island and in Massachusetts, including one in Boston’s Roslindale neighborhood at 4174 Washington St.

“At Recovery Connection we provide treatment to those suffering from Opioid Dependence with Medication and Counseling. The most important thing we want all of our clients to understand that many of us ‘have been there’ and that is why we will ALWAYS treat them with Compassion and Respect,” the organization’s website claims.

The company’s business model, as described on its website DrugHelp.com, is to offer “Medication Assisted Treatment” using things like Suboxone Vivitrol and accepts “ALL insurances regardless of if we even have a contract for them.”

But prosecutors claim that their acceptance of insurance was a bit too broad and their provided services a bit too narrow.

Recovery Connection — operated by Brier and Bruining, who is a currently licensed clinical social worker — purportedly billed Medicare, Medicaid and other health care providers for counseling sessions that were not actually provided.

Prosecutors allege that the businesses billed for regular 45-minute counseling sessions that in actuality often took place in 10 minutes or less and, prosecutors argue “so many counseling sessions were billed at this level that the total amount of time would be impossible for the available therapist to have provided in any 24 hour period.”

Brier is also alleged to have misrepresented or concealed his criminal convictions or even his role in the business in government filings and that the business. He’s also alleged to have represented himself as a medical practitioner — which he is not — and issued prescriptions using the identities of actual doctors without their permission.