Laynie Foundation Managers Summer Matheson and Terrence Ewing Sentenced for $2.5 Million Youth Counseling Medicaid Fraud

Case from 2017–2025 (U.S. Attorney's Office latest release: Sept. 17, 2024; later developments are from court records and other sources cited below). Published on Scammers.com Oct. 16, 2026; case status is current as of that date.

Summer Matheson and Terrence Ewing were sentenced Sept. 12, 2024, for a scheme that took about $2.5 million from Illinois Medicaid through false billing at their youth counseling center, the Laynie Foundation in Matteson, Illinois. Matheson received six years in federal prison and Ewing four and a half years, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois [1]. Foundation employee Richard Grundy was sentenced earlier to three years and one month.

How the scheme worked

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office [1] [2]:

1. Billing for counseling that wasn't provided. From 2011 to 2018, the foundation billed Illinois Medicaid for more mental health counseling than it actually gave to young people.
2. Billing for things Medicaid doesn't cover. It also sought payment for internal case reviews, staff training, clinical supervision and recordkeeping.
3. Covering it up. Matheson had staff backdate and falsify patient records to make it look as if a licensed practitioner had reviewed and approved services. She knew that had not happened.

In a 2017 civil False Claims Act suit, the United States and Illinois alleged that Matheson and Ewing told employees to inflate the services they reported [3]. According to the suit, most of those employees were new to the field. When employees questioned billing practices, Matheson allegedly warned that the foundation would lose Medicaid funding if they did not bill as told, and employees were allegedly told "not to mess with" the owners' money. The suit alleges that from January 2012 through February 2016, the foundation submitted about $8.2 million in claims and received about $6.3 million.

The 2019 indictment put the loss at about $4 million [2]. At sentencing, the U.S. Attorney's Office gave the amount fraudulently obtained as about $2.5 million [1].

The defendants

All three pleaded guilty in 2023 to health care fraud and were sentenced by U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey [1].

• Summer Matheson, 46, Chicago: co-manager. Sentenced Sept. 12, 2024, to 6 years.
• Terrence Ewing, 62, Chicago: co-manager. Sentenced Sept. 12, 2024, to 4½ years.
• Richard Grundy, 39, Chicago: foundation employee. Sentenced earlier to 3 years and 1 month.

The investigation was conducted by HHS-OIG and the FBI, with help from the Illinois Attorney General's Office, the Illinois State Police and the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services [1].

Civil case. The False Claims Act suit, originally filed under seal by a whistleblower in 2014 and joined by the U.S. and Illinois in 2017, makes civil allegations only [3]. Court records summarized by Dr. Docket show it was still pending in 2025 [4]. Status pending; no later outcome found in public sources as of Oct. 16, 2026.

Red flags (for families and staff)

• Explanation of Benefits or Medicaid statements listing sessions your child didn't attend.
• Staff told to bill for training, meetings or paperwork as if it were therapy.
• Pressure to backdate notes or get supervisor sign-offs after the fact.

What to do

1. Review the services billed under your Medicaid or managed-care plan and question anything you don't recognize.
2. Report suspected Medicaid fraud to the Illinois Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (Illinois State Police), the Illinois HFS Office of Inspector General, or the HHS-OIG hotline at oig.hhs.gov.
3. Employees who see billing fraud may be protected under federal and state whistleblower laws.

Case status (as of Oct. 16, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 16, 2026	Source
Summer Matheson, 46, Chicago	N.D. Ill.	Pleaded guilty to health care fraud (2023); sentenced Sept. 12, 2024, to 6 years	[1]
Terrence Ewing, 62, Chicago	N.D. Ill.	Pleaded guilty to health care fraud (2023); sentenced Sept. 12, 2024, to 4½ years	[1]
Richard Grundy, 39, Chicago	N.D. Ill.	Pleaded guilty to health care fraud (2023); sentenced to 3 years, 1 month (before Sept. 2024)	[1]
Laynie Foundation Inc., Matheson, Ewing (civil False Claims Act suit)	N.D. Ill.	Allegations only; pending as of 2025; no later outcome found in public sources as of Oct. 16, 2026	[3], [4]

Sources

1. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, "Managers of Suburban Chicago Youth Counseling Center Sentenced to Prison for Defrauding Illinois Medicaid out of $2.5 Million," Sept. 17, 2024. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/managers-suburban-chicago-youth-counseling-center-sentenced-prison-defrauding-illinois
2. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, "Owners of Suburban Youth Counseling Center Indicted on Fraud Charges for Allegedly Defrauding Illinois Medicaid out of $4 Million," Aug. 28, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/owners-suburban-youth-counseling-center-indicted-fraud-charges-allegedly-defrauding
3. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, "U.S. and State of Illinois File Suit Against Owners of Suburban Youth Counseling Center for Allegedly Defrauding Medicaid out of Millions," Nov. 1, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/us-and-state-illinois-file-suit-against-owners-suburban-youth-counseling-center
4. Dr. Docket, "Purohit v. The Laynie Foundation, Inc." (N.D. Ill., filed 2014), docket summary. https://www.drdocket.com/case/purohit-v-the-laynie-foundation-inc-ilnd-2014

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