DETROIT – A former health care consultant pleaded guilty Tuesday to fraud and tax evasion.
According to officials, Sonja Emery lied about her professional status, educational background and work experience to get health care consulting jobs. She held high-paying positions from 2012 to 2018.
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Emery, who used several aliases, such as Sonja Lee Robinson, Sonjalee Emery-Robinson and Sonjalee Emery, worked in several states, including Michigan.
She was the senior vice president for an Ann Arbor health care consulting firm earning an annual salary of approximately $285,000; a consultant for a community health system in Wisconsin earning approximately $267,000; and a health care consultant for a Massachusetts company that paid her approximately $226,000. From 2015 until her arrest in May of 2018, Emery worked as a senior executive for a county government health services agency in California that paid her a total of approximately $960,000, officials said.
According to officials, Emery owed more than $400,000 in taxes. During that time, she did not file or filed her taxes late.
She evaded taxes by providing employers with different names and fake social security numbers, telling employers that she was exempt from taxes, and by giving an identification number that did not belong to her, officials said.
Emery will be sentenced June 17.