Chicago Counseling Center Owner, Others Indicted for $19M Fraud

The owner of a suburban Chicago counseling center, Brenda Copeland, along with five others, has been indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly orchestrating a $19 million health care fraud scheme. The indictment, announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois, accuses the defendants of submitting fraudulent claims to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois for psychotherapy services that were never provided.

According to the indictment, Brenda Copeland, 64, operated All Types Counseling Services, which had offices in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. The center claimed to offer counseling services for conditions such as depression and addiction. However, from 2010 to 2025, Copeland, along with the company’s office manager, Samuel Carlson, 69, and four purported patients, allegedly engaged in a scheme to submit false claims to the insurer.

The indictment details that the purported patients provided their health insurance information to Copeland and Carlson, who then used it to submit fraudulent claims. In return, Copeland and Carlson allegedly shared a portion of the payments issued by Blue Cross Blue Shield to All Types with these patients. The purported patients also recruited others to falsely pose as patients in exchange for similar payments.

The fraudulent activities allegedly led to the submission of $19 million in claims, resulting in more than $4.8 million in payments from Blue Cross Blue Shield to All Types Counseling Services.

The indictment charges Copeland, Carlson, Herbert 'Randy' Foster, 59, Joseph Iraci, 51, Anthony Gessert, 42, and Henry Saldarriaga-Ochoa, 37, with health care fraud and conspiracy to commit health care fraud. The defendants reside in various locations in Illinois, including Country Club Hills, Flossmoor, New Lenox, Oak Lawn, and Berwyn.

Arraignments in federal court have not yet been scheduled. If convicted, each defendant faces up to ten years in federal prison for each charge of health care fraud and conspiracy to commit health care fraud. The U.

S. Attorney's Office emphasized that an indictment is not evidence of guilt and that the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Kristin Pinkston, with the investigation led by the FBI's Chicago Field Office and the U.

S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General and Employee Benefits Security Administration. The public is reminded that the government bears the burden of proving the defendants' guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.