New York Woman Pleads Guilty to COVID-19 Vaccine Card Fraud Scheme

 

Kathleen Breault pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States by fraudulently destroying over 2,600 COVID-19 vaccines and issuing a corresponding number of fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination record cards.  The proceeding was held before United States District Judge Rachel P. Kovner.

United States Attorney Breon Peace of the Eastern District of New York, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and James Smith, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the guilty plea.

According to court documents, Kathleen Breault,  a midwife at Sage-Femme Midwifery PLLC (Sage-Femme), an authorized COVID-19 vaccine administration site in Albany, New York, conspired to obstruct the government’s distribution of COVID-19 vaccines by providing COVID-19 vaccination record cards to individuals who were not vaccinated, including to minors who were at the time ineligible to be vaccinated and Canadian citizens who were not present in the United States when they were purportedly vaccinated.  In addition to destroying COVID-19 vaccines and issuing fraudulent vaccination record cards, Breault and her co-conspirators made over 2,600 false entries into a New York State database that tracked COVID-19 vaccine distribution.  Breault agreed to repay more than $37,000 in restitution for the destroyed vaccines.   

Breault pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States and its departments and agencies.  When sentenced, Breault faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.  

The FBI is investigating the case.  The New York State Department of Health assisted with the investigation.  Trial Attorneys Patrick J. Campbell and Hyungjoo Han of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.

The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of nine strike forces operating in 27 federal districts, has charged more than 5,400 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $27 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.