A Glendale woman, Nita Almuete Paddit Palma, 75, has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison for her role in a hospice fraud scheme that resulted in about $10.6 million in false claims to Medicare. The sentencing took place on August 5, 2025, before United States District Judge Dolly M. Gee, who also ordered Palma to pay over $8.2 million in restitution.
At the same hearing, Percy Dean Abrams, 75, of Lakewood, received three years of probation and will serve two years under home confinement.
A federal jury convicted Palma in December 2024 on 12 counts of health care fraud and 16 counts of paying illegal kickbacks for health care referrals. Abrams was found guilty of six counts of receiving illegal kickbacks for health care referrals.
According to court documents, Palma had previously been excluded from participating in Medicare due to earlier convictions related to illegal kickbacks. Despite this exclusion, she acquired ownership of Magnolia Gardens Hospice through her daughter and C@A Hospice through her husband in 2015. She concealed her involvement from Medicare authorities.
Palma paid marketers—including Abrams—hundreds of thousands of dollars as illegal kickbacks for referring patients whose information was then used to bill Medicare for hospice services that were not medically necessary. Hospice care is reserved for terminally ill patients with a life expectancy of six months or less; however, many referred patients were not dying and some were unaware they had been signed up for hospice until they lost coverage for other needed medical services.
Prosecutors said that after Medicare requested additional documentation regarding these claims from Magnolia Gardens Hospice, Palma and her husband instructed employees to fabricate patient charts and submit them as evidence. While awaiting trial on these charges, Palma allegedly took control of three additional hospices and caused nearly $4.8 million more in fraudulent claims.
The case was investigated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the FBI. Assistant United States Attorney Roger A. Hsieh from the Major Frauds Section and Matt Coe-Odess from the Domestic Security and Immigration Crimes Section prosecuted the matter.
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