Couple charged in healthcare scheme

A Brookline couple was indicted yesterday on charges they swindled $53,000 in health insurance from MassHealth over six years, according to Attorney General Martha Coakley's office.

From 1999 through 2005, the attorney general's office said, Joseph and Jila Youshaei applied for and received MassHealth benefits by reporting their income to be $475 a week as earned by Joseph, 46, at Boston Discount Jewelry Exchange in Downtown Crossing.

Coakley said that based on that application, the Youshaeis, including their three children, qualified for and received the most comprehensive health coverage available at the time under the Commonwealth's public health assistance program, which is for low-income residents.

However, an investigation by state Auditor Joe DeNucci's Bureau of Special Investigations and Coakley's office showed that during that time, the Youshaeis owned a residence assessed at about $650,000. The couple also owned various businesses and downtown commercial real estate assessed in the millions of dollars, including the building containing the Boston Discount Jewelry Exchange.

The Youshaeis also owned and operated three Honey Dew Donuts franchises, a convenience store, and a fruit vendor stand located at Downtown Crossing.

The investigation also said that, while receiving health benefits, the couple sent their children to an exclusive private school in Brookline. Neither those assets nor the income derived from the businesses and real estate ventures were reported to MassHealth, according to Coakley. In total, MassHealth provided the family more than $53,000 in benefits during the relevant time period.

The Youshaeis did not immediately return calls for comment last night.

The couple was indicted yesterday by a Suffolk Superior Court grand jury on charges of scheming to obtain public health insurance to which they were not entitled. Joseph and Jila Youshaei, 41, were each indicted on two counts of procurement fraud and larceny over $250 by continuous scheme.

The couple is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 6 in Suffolk Superior Court.