A Minnesota man defrauded the state Medicaid program of nearly $7.4 million through a multiyear scheme using the personal care and health care assistance company 1-0 Granny's Helpful Hands, according to charges filed Wednesday.

Chavis Willis had been barred from owning or operating a Medicaid-funded business 25 years ago after he was convicted of aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

But while his mother, who lives in California, was listed as the company's sole owner, Willis "was the true owner of Granny's and was highly involved in the company's day-to-day operations," the Minnesota Attorney General's Office claims.

Minneapolis-based Granny's regularly billed Medicaid for services that it did not provide to clients, according to the charges. Willis hired a woman to handle billing who he was romantically involved with and whose past crimes, including identity theft, also disqualified her from such work, Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement announcing the charges.

"When criminals defraud Medicaid, they are stealing money that should be providing health care to folks who are struggling financially," Ellison's statement said.

His office charged Willis with racketeering and five felony counts of theft by swindle. Willis could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

Granny's enrolled with the Minnesota Department of Human Services to become a personal care assistance provider in 2012, according to the criminal complaint, and operated out of an office on E. Lake Street. The business was also enrolled as a home and community-based services provider.

Employee interviews, bank records and text messages make it clear Willis owned and managed Granny's, according to the Attorney General's Office. Former employees said he impersonated his mom during phone calls with DHS and forged her name on documents submitted to the state agency and business checks.

Throughout 2020 and 2021, DHS paid almost $7.4 million to the company.

The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the Attorney General's Office also charged Kathryn Koelfgen, the woman whose past felonies had disqualified her from working as a biller for a Medicaid-funded business, in connection with the scheme.

While at Granny's, Koelfgen stole employees' identities and used them to take out 19 personal loans, according to the complaint filed against her. She pleaded guilty to theft by false representation in October.

Koelfgen, who also could not immediately be reached for comment, told investigators she worked for the company from 2017 to 2021 and said Willis was aware of some of her past billing fraud and allowed her to keep working.

He even impersonated his mother on calls with corrections officials to help Koelfgen get furloughed from the workhouse so she could keep working at Granny's, according to the complaint.

She said some of the company's employees would report working for people at group homes owned by Granny's and at the same time would report they were working with Granny's clients at other locations. Some PCA workers would split their paychecks with recipients, which indicates services weren't actually provided, she said, and noted Willis was aware of the fraud.