The New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) announced a record-breaking legal settlement in November against a transportation company that had been falsifying non-emergency medical trips (NEMT) to obtain Medicaid reimbursements. Bronx-based Agape Luxury Corp agreed to pay $750,000 for TLC rule violations committed between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2022.
Agape and its owner submitted claims for medical transportation services to the New York State Medicaid program that were not performed as described in the claims, the TLC alleges – which violates 53 RCNY Section 59B-13(b) and 59B-13(d). Agape also failed to report trip data in a timely manner, which TLC alleges constitutes a violation of 35 RCNY Section 59B-19(a)(3).
“Fraudulent Medicaid trips not only exploit the most vulnerable among us, but taxpayers and drivers also end up paying the price,” said TLC Chair, David Do. “This settlement sends a clear message to any base attempting to scam the government: If you don’t follow the rules and defraud or endanger New Yorkers, there will be consequences.”
The TLC settlement comes after NYS Attorney General Letitia James announced in June that she had recovered more than $13 million in false Medicaid claims from 15 companies across the state, including $2.45 million from Agape. Four other NYC-based companies were forced to reimburse the State, but Agape and one other company, American Base No 1, were the only companies still licensed by the TLC. American Base No 1 chose to surrender its license. Agape, the state’s largest non-emergency medical trip (NEMT) provider, dispatched about 2,500 drivers in 2024, performing approximately a million trips a year. The TLC said it had no reason to believe that Agape’s drivers were complicit in the violations and holds Agape and its owner, Mario Sena, solely responsible.
Source: NYC TLC
