FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A fast-growing multi-state autism therapy provider headquartered in Fort Lauderdale has acknowledged that it is currently the target of an intensive federal investigation concerning its billing practices, even as it faces mounting legal pressure from major health insurers and the sudden unraveling of a multi-million-dollar philanthropic pledge.
ABA Centers of America, a company whose meteoric financial growth and market expansion rocketed to national prominence in less than six years following its founding in 2020, has been under federal scrutiny since early 2025. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services initiated the probe in New Hampshire, where a federal magistrate authorized investigators to thoroughly examine the emails and electronic communications of company founder Christopher M. Barnett alongside multiple high-ranking corporate executives.
An extensive 81-page federal affidavit submitted to a New Hampshire federal magistrate—filed to secure access to the Microsoft accounts of various ABA executives—details that federal agents are actively investigating potential offenses including false statements relating to health matters, wire fraud, healthcare fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and transacting in criminal proceeds. Prosecutors listed in the court filings are attached to the fraud section of the U.S. Justice Department’s criminal division in Washington, D.C., operating in direct coordination with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Concord, New Hampshire.
Despite the sweeping scope of the inquiry, the federal investigation has not yet resulted in any formal criminal charges against the business entity or any individual associated with it.
"We are aware that the federal government is investigating the company," said Maria Isina Areco, director of public relations for ABA Centers and its parent organization, ICBD Holdings, in an emailed statement to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. "Estamos working with federal investigators and will respond at the appropriate time."
According to the details outlined in the agent’s affidavit, the primary focus of the federal probe centers on alleged fraudulent billing practices targeting healthcare benefit programs. Investigators allege that the firm submitted claims for "medically unnecessary services purportedly rendered in the District of Massachusetts, District of New Hampshire, and elsewhere by submitting claims that misrepresented the place of service, rendering provider and medical necessity of the services."
The affidavit further alleges that the company, operating through an affiliated billing arm, billed for services that did not qualify as legitimate medical treatment. Examples cited in the court documents include billing for periods when a client was napping or watching television. Furthermore, the affidavit asserts that ABA Centers provided purported therapy services based not on clinical medical necessity, but rather on an internal rating system that categorized child and teenage patients according to the potential profits the company could extract from their specific health insurance plans.
Through a combination of records analysis and interviews with multiple former employees and patients, investigators pieced together specific operational patterns. For instance, interviews led investigators to conclude that ABA Centers of America billed services provided in Massachusetts as though they were delivered in New Hampshire, a practice allegedly motivated by the fact that insurance plans in New Hampshire reimbursed at substantially higher rates than those in Massachusetts.
In addition to operational irregularities, the affidavit alleges that company founder Christopher Barnett utilized the proceeds derived from questionable billing practices to support an extravagant personal lifestyle, including the acquisition of luxury automobiles, a corporate jet, and the lease of a multi-million-dollar waterfront residence in Fort Lauderdale.
Concurrent Civil Litigation
Beyond the federal criminal inquiry, ABA Centers of America is embroiled in high-stakes civil litigation with major corporate entities and health insurance plans, court documents and published reports show.
The company initially initiated legal action against Publix Super Markets in a Florida state court, alleging that the supermarket chain owed millions of dollars in unpaid medical claims. In response, Publix filed a comprehensive counterclaim in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, alleging a sweeping fraud scheme operating under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
The Publix complaint, which seeks approximately $15 million in damages, characterized ABA Centers as an enterprise that presented itself to families with autistic children as a high-quality therapy provider while systematically generating large, unjustified insurance claims.
The litigation involving Publix was transferred in late 2025 to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Fort Lauderdale and assigned to U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal. In a notable procedural development, Judge Singhal permitted the bulk of the Publix lawsuit to move forward, allowing six of the nine original counts to stand and giving defense attorneys from the Greenberg Traurig law firm a deadline of October 16 to respond.
"Before the court is a civil case that could also be brought as a criminal action," Judge Singhal wrote in an order issued on August 28.
The judge elaborated on the mechanics of the alleged scheme described by the plaintiffs—an employer and an insurance plan—noting that the healthcare provider defendants allegedly submitted inflated bills with the intent that the plan calculate payments based on those inflated figures, even though the providers never intended to collect significant portions of the totals from the employee plan members receiving treatment.
"For example, if Defendants submitted a bill for $1,000 for a 15-minute appointment, and the insurance plan required Plaintiffs to pay 60% and Plan Members to pay 40%, Defendants would only collect the $600 from Plaintiffs and then a de minimis amount from Plan Members," Judge Singhal wrote. "The $1,000 billed total was false — Defendants only intended to collect a little over $600. What Defendants wanted was for Plaintiffs to believe they owed $600 and pay that amount, thinking that Plan Members were also going to pay their required portion of these bills. The Plan Members, of course, never raised an issue with the bills since they did not have to pay. Plaintiffs paid almost the entirety of what Defendants collected, when they should have paid far less. Plaintiffs allege fraud. The Court has not been advised as to whether there is a concurrent criminal case pending."
Similar civil litigation is actively proceeding in a Massachusetts state court between ABA Centers and health insurers Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Point32Health Services. ABA initially filed suit alleging nonpayment of claims. In late 2025, subsidiaries of Point32 filed an amended counterclaim against ABA Centers and a related entity, Integrative Healthcare Services, seeking more than $19 million in damages for an alleged far-reaching scheme to defraud the companies.
College Walks Away from $55M Pledge
The existence of the federal criminal investigation was first brought to public attention by a Substack digital publishing outlet titled "Reinforcement & Ruin," authored by Samantha Parnham, a certified behavioral health analyst who operates a small practice in Oregon. Her six-part series summarized the federal investigation using details from court records alongside civil lawsuits filed by health insurers against ABA Centers. Additional industry publications, including Behavior Health Business and Acuity Media, subsequently chronicled the unfolding legal developments.
Despite the federal investigation having been active for over a year, news of the probe apparently did not reach Temple University in Philadelphia—Christopher Barnett’s undergraduate alma mater—until early September. The previous year, the university had proudly accepted a landmark $55 million philanthropic pledge from Barnett directed toward its school of public health.
In recognition of what was celebrated as the largest gift in Temple University’s history, the institution renamed its College of Public Health to the Christopher M. Barnett College of Public Health.
However, in a campus-wide letter issued in September, Temple University President John Fry and Board Chair Mitchell L. Morgan announced that the university and Barnett had mutually agreed to terminate the $55 million philanthropic commitment announced in October 2025. The university confirmed that up until the decision to terminate the agreement, no actual funds had been paid toward the pledge. University leadership also confirmed that the building naming rights associated with Barnett had been officially rescinded.
While Temple media relations representatives did not respond to emailed inquiries regarding the university’s separation from Barnett, university leaders noted in their letter that Barnett "strenuously" denied any wrongdoing and was concurrently dealing with a "life-threatening" medical issue, though they provided no further details. Representatives for ABA Centers have declined to comment on the state of Barnett’s health or whether he continues to oversee the enterprise he founded.
A "Disruptive" Business Model
Established in 2020, ABA Centers of America experienced a dramatic surge in revenue that placed it near the top of numerous rankings for emerging businesses. In 2024, the firm secured the No. 5 spot on the Inc. 5000 list. The following year, it ranked No. 25 nationally and No. 15 on a Southeast regional list.
Christopher Barnett, who describes himself as a serial entrepreneur, worked in real estate prior to entering the healthcare sector, exiting the real estate market during the housing crash of 2008. Alongside his political science degree from Temple University, public biographies indicate he holds a law degree from Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Florida, though the Florida Bar website does not list him as an active member.
Barnett subsequently turned his focus to healthcare, building his current enterprise entirely from the ground up. According to a profile published by Florida Trend, an early company he founded called GateHouse Treatment—a behavioral healthcare center located in Nashua, New Hampshire—served as the cornerstone for ICBD Holdings, the Fort Lauderdale-based parent company that currently controls ABA Centers, Curative AI, Exact Billing Solutions, and several other ventures. ICBD is headquartered at 110 E. Broward Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale.
The profile indicated that ABA Centers once operated with more than 2,000 employees across facilities in over 10 states, although various industry publications have reported recent workforce layoffs and the closure of select facilities over the course of the year.
At the community level, Barnett has maintained an active profile supporting children’s initiatives. Earlier this year, he was inducted into the Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County Alumni Hall of Fame, having spent his childhood as a "Club Kid" in Lauderhill, according to promotional news releases. In 2024, he was also appointed to the board of directors for the Memorial and Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital foundations.
In its official statement provided to the Sun Sentinel, ABA Centers described its overall business model as "disruptive to the status quo."
"We always knew that our business model is disruptive to the status quo and upends current business models for both providers and payors," the company’s statement read. "It is also important to note that this investigation does not appear to be focused on the quality of the care that we provide."
The statement characterized autism treatment as a segment of the healthcare industry that is "both fast growing and fast changing," adding, "We work hard every day to address the evolving industry standards and best practices."
"We have always been guided by our mission to deliver life-changing outcomes for people with autism, and their families, and a number of principles that are fundamental to it. First and foremost, we are committed to getting children off waiting lists where they often languish for far too long," the statement added. "We understand the importance of early treatment and believe deeply in individualized care programs where the level (and type) of care is determined by data. As our company grows and matures, we have continued to increase our investment in staff training on compliance and documentation of our work."
Centers in South and Central Florida
Published reports and corporate statements indicate that ABA Centers began expanding its physical footprint in Florida under the banner of ABA Centers of Florida starting in 2022, opening its initial location in Port St. Lucie. Subsequent facilities were established in Jensen Beach, Tamarac, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, and Orlando.
The company emphasized that its Florida network has helped diagnose and treat thousands of children on the autism spectrum. "Our approach embraces best practices and the highest standard of care, beginning with an assessment that utilizes the best clinical tools available to the profession," the statement said.
"A plan of care is then developed by a clinician — a treatment plan that is individualized, data-driven and science-backed," the statement continued. "That treatment plan establishes the amount of care needed for each client on a weekly basis, and the specifics of their treatment to maximize the clinical outcome. Our care decisions are guided by the treatment plan, which is implemented by a dedicated team of providers. We present the treatment plan to health care payors for authorization, and we provide care that has been authorized by the payor. Health insurance plans only pay for what has been authorized."
