A former Office of Policy and Management employee allegedly defrauded Medicaid of roughly $1.8 million while simultaneously earning more than $90,000 per year as a labor relations specialist, according to a U.S. Justice Department’s case against Suhail Aponte and a review of state payroll records.

Aponte worked as a labor relations and public information specialist for Hartford Public Schools before being hired by the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) in May of 2022, nearly one year after forming Minds Cornerstone, LLC, a business that purported to offer services for children with autism.

Aponte worked for OPM between May of 2022 and November of 2024 when Aponte “separated from state service resigning not in good standing… due to unauthorized leave of absence of five or more working days,” according to a document submitted by the Comptroller’s Office to the Auditors of Public Accounts.

It was largely during this period that Aponte was allegedly involved in “submitting fraudulent claims for applied behavior analysis (“ABA”) services to children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder,” in the amount of $1.8 million through her company. Aponte was allegedly partners in this business with Ramon Apellaniz, who had previously been arrested in January of 2020 for defrauding Medicaid of over $900,000 for mental health services through his company, The Gemini Project.

According to the arrest affidavit, Aponte and Apellaniz lived together in Weathersfield and Apellaniz purportedly ran the business, even though he was not listed as a principal manager, and even while he served a prison sentence for his previous Medicaid fraud between April and November of 2024.

“The ongoing investigation has revealed that [Apellaniz] has been running [Minds Cornerstone] under a pseudonym and conspiring with [Aponte] to defraud Medicaid, even when [Apellaniz] was serving a state sentence for Medicaid fraud,” the arrest affidavit states. Apellaniz was caught on recorded calls from prison directing Aponte on how to run the business while he was incarcerated.

According to the U.S. Justice Department, Aponte’s business began defrauding Medicaid in November of 2021, shortly after the business was registered. Neither Aponte nor Apellaniz were licensed to provide the services offered by the business, according to the affidavit, and Aponte began working for OPM just six months later. Aponte earned $93,653 in 2023 – her only full year of state employment.

It was during that time that Aponte and Apellaniz allegedly over-billed Medicaid for services through inflating the number of hours employees worked by more than $1 million. During a 2023 audit by the Department of Social Services (DSS), Aponte allegedly insisted on doing the audit in state offices rather than at the business location “because she was running the business completely electronically on her laptop and preferred to bring her laptop to DSS rather than to have DSS visit her home,” according to the affidavit.

According to the affidavit, Aponte continued to bill Medicaid for services through December of 2024, averaging $134,731 per month. “Therefore, the investigators believe the Target Offenses described in this affidavit is actively ongoing,” Special Agent Melissa Gaud wrote on January 15, 2025.

Aponte’s arrest came just a month before another former OPM employee, Kosta Diamantis, was indicted on another federal corruption charge for his role in facilitating a Medicaid payoff to DSS. 

In 2020, Diamantis, then deputy secretary of OPM, helped Bristol optometrist Helen Zervas pay back $600,000 in Medicaid overpayments to DSS to get a pending audit canceled. Diamantis was joined by former state representative Chris Ziogas, D-Bristol, who was engaged to Zervas, according to court documents. Both men were indicted for their roles in the payoff; Diamantis was already fighting corruption charges for allegedly steering state contract money toward favored vendors in exchange for bribes.

State business records show that Aponte also opened a CBD business in 2021 called Platinum Natural CBD with locations in East Hampton and Westbrook, and appear to have been operating while she was employed with OPM.

The company was formed in Delaware, under the name Platinum R. Realty, with Aponte registering the company’s mailing address as the same home address she used for Minds Cornerstone, according to state business records. 

Although the webpage for Platinum CBD exists, the phone number no longer works and both businesses appear to be closed. Interestingly, the NextDoor page for Platinum Natural CBD lists Platinum’s email contact as “Kris R.” Apellaniz’s alias while running Minds Cornerstone was Kris Rockefeller, according to the arrest affidavit, and both clients and staff referred to him as Kris Rockefeller.

Aponte and Apellaniz are charged with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and healthcare fraud, with each charge carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years.

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