Dallas psychologist Michael Ellis Wolf jailed 36 months for fraud

May 7, 2014

Michael Ellis Wolf was sentenced on May 7, 2014 by U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis to 36 months in federal prison and ordered to pay approximately $1.8 million in restitution.

On January 22, he admitted to having filed claims for the treatment of a single postal worker seven days a week, up to eight hours a day. A federal billing contractor responded by paying the therapist more than $1 million, court records say.

Now Michael Ellis Wolf, 62, has pleaded guilty to a five-year health care fraud scheme and agreed to surrender his license to practice psychology. Authorities took him into custody today at the Dallas federal courthouse. He faces up to 10 years in prison, plus fines and restitution, at a sentencing hearing May 7.

There was no immediate word on how the scheme went undetected so long and whether others would face charges.

Court records identify the billing contractor as Affiliated Computer Services, or ACS, which processes workers compensation claims for the U.S. government. Xerox acquired it in 2010.

The records don’t name the patient, although they do say he was eligible for workers comp. He received therapy from Wolf once or twice a week beginning in 1996, and the fraudulent billing occurred from 2008 to 2013.

Source: Brooks Egerton, "Dallas psychologist admits $1 million federal health fraud," Dallas Morning News, January 22, 2014 (updated May 6, 2014).