(WWJ) -- A former Michigan healthcare consultant has pleaded guilty to fraud and tax evasion, after using several aliases relating to her scheme to be employed under false pretenses as a highly-paid healthcare consultant for several years.
The U.S. Department of Justice says Sonja Emery, between 2011 and 2018, falsely represented her professional status, educational background, and work experience to maintain consulting positions in the industry, earning more than $1 million, while not filing her taxes.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Emery, used several aliases including “Sonja Lee Robinson,” “Sonjalee Emery-Robinson,” and “Sonjalee Emery,” and resided in Georgia, New Jersey, New York, and California.
During those years, Emery falsely represented her professional status, educational background, and work experience to secure and maintain highly paid consulting positions in the industry. She falsely claimed to have a nursing diploma from a school she never attended, according to the DOJ.
She also falsely claimed to be a Registered Nurse licensed in New York, Georgia, Connecticut, and California and provided employers with licensure numbers that belonged to other people. Officials say Emery was never even a RN.
Emery also falsely told employers she had a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, a Master of Health Administration, a Master in Business Administration, and a Doctor of Philosophy from Emory University and New York University, but Emery never attended those schools or received these degrees.
Emery worked as a senior vice president for a healthcare consulting firm in Ann Arbor between 2012 and 2018, earning an annual salary of approximately $285,000. When she worked as a consultant for a community health system in Wisconsin, she earned approximately $267,000, and as a health care consultant for a Massachusetts company, she earned roughly $226,000.
Emery was arrested in May 2018, but for the three years prior, she worked as a senior executive for a county government health services agency in California that paid her a total of approximately $960,000.
During that span Emery either did not file or late-filed tax returns, despite owing more than $400,000 in taxes. She sought to avoid being detected by providing employers with different names and false social security numbers, by falsely instructing employers that she was “exempt” from taxes, and by supplying an employer with an identification number that did not belong to her, according to the DOJ.
Emery is set to be sentenced on June 17, and could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for mail fraud and five years for tax evasion. She also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.