PHOENIX — A high-profile Phoenix business owner who once ran the state’s largest children’s special needs therapy clinic is charged with stealing nearly $3 million in COVID small business relief funds.
A grand jury indicted Bridget O’Brien in August of 2023 on 17 counts of fraud and theft, though 12News just learned of the charges this week. O’Brien has pleaded not guilty and is due for a status conference in court next month.
$2.9 million and nine companies
The indictment represents the only SBA emergency loan fraud case brought by the Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes’ Office. Most cases of this nature are handled federally.
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There is reason to believe O’Brien has been on the state’s radar for years. The state’s Medicaid provider cut off funds to O’Brien’s flagship clinic, Head to Toe Therapy, in 2019. Since then at least two former contractors were cooperating with state investigators about alleged fraud within O’Brien’s companies.
A spokesperson for Mayes declined to discuss details of the investigation.
The indictment alleges O’Brien stole over $2.9 million through nine companies in her name. During the pandemic the feds unleashed $5 trillion in relief programs. The Small Business Association estimates there was $64 billion in fraud stemming solely from the PPP program.
A $2 million Biltmore home and unpaid therapists
12News first reported about allegations of suspicious COVID loans to O’Brien’s companies in 2020 after a whistleblower revealed O’Brien’s clinics typically did not have employees. Rather they were operated with independent contractors which would have made qualifying for SBA loans much more difficult.
In a brazen move, during the same month, O’Brien began receiving the loans in April of 2020, she bought a nearly $2 million home near the Biltmore.
At the time, O’Brien still owed therapists and social workers backpay for work they performed before COVID, as 12News had reported on expensively.
Alleged phony Cancer diagnosis, dog-napping, alleged Medicaid fraud
The 2023 indictment is the latest twist in a bizarre journey for O’Brien since 12News began investigating her businesses beginning in 2018.
The initial allegations against her involved mismanagement of Medicaid funds and nonpayment of social workers. In 2019, the state cut off Medicaid payments to her company, citing evidence that included fictitious medical claims.
Then in 2021, O’Brien was caught on surveillance camera in the Biltmore community stealing a dog in front of the owner’s yard. O’Brien could been seen on the video checking the dog’s I.D. collar (which included the address of the owner’s home) before placing him in her car. O’Brien later pleaded guilty to theft and agreed to a fine.
Allegations of a phony Cancer diagnosis have also followed O’Brien for several years. Former coworkers and therapists accused O’Brien of lying about having a late-stage form of breast cancer in order to avoid her financial obligations.
An attorney representing a civil plaintiff accused O’Brien of lying to a judge about having Cancer. Though O’Brien never showed actual medical proof of cancer treatment, a bankruptcy judge who oversaw the case ruled in O’Brien’s favor. In that case, O’Brien’s attorney was former Attorney General Tom Horne. Horne is now the state superintendent. He is also a longtime acquaintance of O’Brien. An email from Horne to 12News states he met O’Brien because her mother worked for him in the Attorney General’s Office.
Horne will not call for removal of O’Brien’s company from vendor list
The 2023 indictment claims one of the companies O’Brien used to fraudulently obtain COVID loans is KIIDS A Therapy. O’Brien allegedly used it to obtain $343,000.
That company (in O’Brien’s name) remains listed as an authorized tutor for the Arizona Department of Education
“Authorized ATP Tutoring Providers.” That means the company is eligible to receive more public funds.
12News asked Horne on Thursday whether he believes O’Brien should be disqualified as an authorized vendor, given her history of alleged Medicaid fraud, nonpayment of contractors, dog-napping, and alleged SBA loan fraud.
“Ms. O’Brien is entitled to her day in court,” Horne said in a written statement.
A previous attorney for O’Brien told 12News in 2020 that O’Brien obtained the emergency loans within the guidelines outlined by the SBA.
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