Two Philadelphia women plead guilty to $3.4 million Minnesota Medicaid fraud scheme

Candice Langley, a former Essence model and Cynthia Allen, an actress who starred in Netflix’s “Concrete Cowboy,” pleaded guilty to health care fraud charges.

Two women who traveled from Philadelphia to Minnesota with the explicit aim of exploiting a taxpayer-funded program now stand as convicted felons.

According to KARE 11, Candice Langley and Cynthia Allen pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, admitting they siphoned roughly $3.4 million from a Medicaid program designed to help vulnerable adults secure housing.

Federal prosecutors say the pair set up Housing Stabilization Services companies in Minneapolis after concluding the program amounted to “easy money,” according to KARE 11’s reporting. Court documents describe a scheme built on fabricated client records and inflated billing, with the two collecting millions for services that, in many cases, appear never to have been meaningfully delivered.

The human cost came through in an interview the outlet conducted with Terrance Darby, who said he was living in a homeless shelter while Langley’s company submitted Medicaid claims in his name. Presented with records showing at least $1,600 billed on his behalf, Darby told KARE 11 Investigates the help he actually received was worth “zero,” adding plainly, “I didn’t get anything.”

The backgrounds of the two defendants add an unusual wrinkle to the case. Langley was identified as an Essence magazine curvy model and Allen as a missionary and actress who starred in Netflix’s “Concrete Cowboy,” an unlikely pairing for a federal health care fraud conviction.

Their pleas are the latest in what the outlet described as a sweeping federal investigation into Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services program, which prosecutors have characterized as a magnet drawing out-of-state fraudsters. KARE 11 noted that two of the women’s Philadelphia church associates, a pastor and a Christian university president, previously admitted to running their own multimillion-dollar HSS schemes.

A third Philadelphia defendant, Deborah Hodges, who has appeared alongside Allen at speaking engagements where the two promoted themselves as business masterminds, has pleaded not guilty and awaits trial.

Defense attorney Sellano Simmons told reporters after the hearing that both women had accepted responsibility for their actions. Sentencing dates have not yet been scheduled, though the two reportedly face up to 56 months in federal prison.