The former operator of Atrium Health and Senior Living, which previously owned 24 facilities in Wisconsin, including Kewaunee, is facing a dozen charges and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines due to Medicare and Medicaid fraud.

Kevin Breslin of New Jersey was charged by a federal grand jury during an indictment last week by the Western District of Wisconsin. According to the United States Department of Justice, the indictment alleges that the fraud scheme took place between January 2015 and September 2018. Breslin and Atrium billed Medicare and Medicaid millions of dollars for medical services they did not spend on patient care in Wisconsin. Instead, the money lined the pockets of owners and investors investing in the construction of new facilities in New Jersey. The indictment also alleges that withheld insurance premiums from employees’ paychecks and evaded payment to the Wisconsin Department of Revenue and the Internal Revenue Service for state and federal income taxes. Breslin could receive penalties of five years in federal prison on the conspiracy to commit tax fraud and money laundering and 20 years for each of his ten counts of health care, wire, and mail fraud. He is also facing a $500,000 fine for money laundering and a $250,000 fine for each tax, health care, wire, and mail fraud charge.

The Kewaunee facility was owned by Atrium Health and Senior Living and 23 other facilities for a few years before the company was placed in receivership in September 2018. Twenty-two of the facilities, including Kewaunee’s, were purchased in December 2019 by North Shore Healthcare.