A 40-year-old man had been charged with defrauding Connecticut's Medicare program by over $1.8 million.
Ramon Apellaniz, 40, of Middletown, previously operated The Gemini Project, LLC, a Newington-based business that offered counseling to patients with mental, behavioral, and emotional disorders.
In 2020, Apellaniz was charged by the state with larceny, health care fraud, and identity theft offenses related to his providing of services to numerous Medicaid beneficiaries as a non-licensed provider, and Gemini billing Medicaid for those services, or for services that were not rendered at all.
Apellaniz pleaded nolo contendere and, on April 17, 2024, was sentenced in Hartford Superior Court to eight years in prison, execution suspended after 15 months, and five years of parole. He was released from Department of Correction custody on November 19, 2024.
P.J. O’Brien, special agent in charge of the New Haven Division of the FBI, and Roberto Coviello, special agent in charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General's Office of Investigations, on November 7 announced that Ramon Appellaniz, 40, of Middletown, previous operator of The Gemini Project, LLC, has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to serve 78 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release; and ordered to pay over $1.8 million in restitution to CT Medicaid.
Suhail Aponte was the sole principal and registered agent of Minds Cornerstone LLC, doing business as Minds Cornerstone Behavior Therapy Services, an autism specialist group. Apellaniz conspired with Aponte and ran the company under a pseudonym, “Kristopher Rockefeller”, even while he was incarcerated in state custody. Apellaniz used prison phone calls to direct Aponte on how to commit the fraud and how to use the ill-gotten gains.
“This sentencing delivers justice to the criminal actors who prey upon our most vulnerable citizens and steal from hardworking Connecticut taxpayers,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge P.J. O’Brien. “The FBI, with our partners in HHS, the Connecticut Chief State’s Attorney’s Office and the Connecticut Department of Social Services, are cracking down on corrupt health care providers who exploit Medicaid with reimbursements for phony or unprovided services, and ensuring those responsible face justice.”
Beginning in approximately November 2021, Apellaniz and Aponte used Minds Cornerstone to defraud the Connecticut Medicaid Program by submitting fraudulent claims for applied behavior analysis services to children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Between November 2021 and January 2025, Apellaniz and Aponte submitted or caused to be submitted to Medicaid fraudulent claims that resulted in a loss of approximately $1,876,617 to the Connecticut Department of Social Services.
The investigation revealed that Apellaniz used some of the funds Minds Cornerstone received to pay a portion of the restitution he owed as a result of his state prosecution, in addition to lavish spending on travel and luxury goods.
Apellaniz pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349, on May 16, 2025, in front of Judge Underhill in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Sentencing occurred on November 3, also in front of Judge Underhill, where Apellaniz was sentenced to 78 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release and ordered to pay over $1.8M in restitution to CT Medicaid. Apellaniz had been detained since his arrest on January 16, 2025.
“Criminals who defraud the Medicaid program—especially by preying on vulnerable populations such as children with autism—will be held accountable,” said Roberto Coviello, special agent in charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “Apellaniz’s scheme was a deliberate abuse of Connecticut’s taxpayer-funded Medicaid program, and HHS-OIG will continue to work closely with our state and federal partners to detect, investigate, and bring to justice individuals who exploit federal health care programs for personal gain.”
Aponte pleaded guilty to the same charge on April 30 and will be sentenced in February 2026.
This investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Connecticut Chief State’s Attorney’s Office, with the assistance of the Connecticut Department of Social Services. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David T. Huang.