Former hospital CFO Natalie Ann Krasnow of Huntley, Ill., was arrested for racketeering and fraud, according to an announcement made last Thursday by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. She was charged with one count of criminal racketeering, one count of scheme to defraud and one count of aggravated white collar crime. If convicted on all charges, she faces a maximum of 90 years in jail and $30,000 in fines. She is being held on a $250,000 bond.
Krasnow was CFO of H.C. Healthcare, Inc., of Gainesville, Fla., which owned and operated Trinity Community Hospital in Jasper, Fla.
Her arrest was part of a larger investigation by the attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, FDLE and the state Attorney’s Office of the Third Judicial Circuit into activities at the now defunct Trinity Community Hospital and affiliated clinics.
Krasnow is one of eight people employed by or associated with HC Healthcare, Inc. who have been arrested since the probe began. Others include her brother, hospital owner Robert A. Krasnow and hospital administrator Christina Ortega.
Investigators discovered that more than $660,000 in state grants dedicated to hospital improvements went to Trinity Community Hospital, but little, if any of the money was used to upgrade the hospital. Krasnow served as the corporation’s grants liaison officer with the Florida Department of Health and was supposed to help apply for and account for how the funds were used.
The probe revealed that most of the funds went to supporting activities of a criminal enterprise or were diverted for Krasnow or her brother’s personal use. Investigators tracked some of the diverted hospital grant money back to a defunct car dealership Natalie Krasnow managed. Money was also laundered through several bank accounts under her brother’s name.
To learn more:
- read the press release from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
- read West Orlando News article
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