Deaun Larson Holdaway served as an office manager at Measures of Affect Theoretically Relative (MATR), a group of substance abuse treatment centers in Utah. She, along with two other administrators, handled day-to-day operations including submitting claims to Medicaid – which in 2018, when MATR first became a Medicaid provider, required very little administration. But in no time at all, Medicaid revenue increased dramatically to eventually become MATR’s only source of revenue. No coincidence that Holdaway and her fellow co-conspirators’ income increased dramatically, becoming the three highest paid employees in the company. Holdaway had turned her office job into a scheme to steal nearly $13 million from the U.S. taxpayer.
Beginning in March 2018 through June 2022, Holdaway began to submit fraudulent Medicaid claims for therapeutic behavioral services and group psychotherapy that were not provided by qualified professionals, did not comply with Medicaid regulations, and were based on falsified documentation. In total, over 7,700 claims were submitted for Medicaid reimbursing $12,994,704.31. MATR did cease operations in August 2022 due to an investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services. However, they attempted to reopen under a new name, Limitless Recovery, to continue billing Medicaid.
This wasn’t the only scheme Holdaway had going either. Despite her almost $1 million salary from MATR, Holdaway was fraudulently receiving public assistance benefits in the form of SNAP, Special Payments, Financial Assistance, and Medical Assistance.
On June 10, 2025, Holdaway was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for Medicaid and public assistance fraud.
Excellent job by the Medicaid Fraud and Patient Abuse Division in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Utah woman sentenced after pleading guilty to Medicaid fraud” published by ABC News on June 10, 2025.
A Utah woman has been sentenced to serve no more than 15 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to two fraud charges related to Medicaid. Deaun Larson Holdaway, 67, was sentenced in May, according to the Utah Attorney General’s Office, for the charges of second-degree felony false claims for medical benefits and third-degree felony public assistance fraud.
Holdaway, along with two other suspects, was reportedly responsible for submitting over 7,700 Medicaid claims between March 2019 and June 2022, through a Medicaid provider identified as a behavioral health company based in Mt. Pleasant, offering substance use disorder treatment. The Utah Attorney General’s Office said the claims were for services that were not provided by professionals and were documented fraudulently.
