Former NCSU booster to plead guilty to Medicaid fraud-related charges

The charges against Eric Dewayne Leak were laid out in a criminal information filed Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney's Office. Such documents are used to bypass the grand jury process when a plea deal has been reached with a defendant.

The information charges that, from October 2011 to December 2013, Leak "knowingly and willfully offered and paid remuneration, including a kickback and bribe" to induce people to refer others for mental health treatment paid for by Medicaid.

Court documents state that Leak paid Carlos Brown $393,000 in kickbacks for recruiting clients for Nature's Reflections LLC, the behavioral health counseling business run by Leak and his wife, Emily. Two other people, identified only by initials in court documents, also recruited clients for Nature's Reflections in specific geographic areas and received kickbacks for their services.

In March 2013, the information charges, Leak wrote a check for $32,000 on the account of Nature's Reflections to ACG Financial Management Group, "which represented property derived from a specified unlawful activity, that is, paying kickbacks." Brown ran ACG, according to court documents.

Aside from putting down $500,000 to buy the home, IRS agents have said the Leaks spent $38,000 to turn the attic into an exercise room and barber shop. They also paid more than $50,000 for an elaborate pool. Bank records show the renovations were paid for with money from Nature's Reflections.

According to a 2015 search warrant for that business, employees claimed Leak told them to "write service notes for services not rendered." Nature's Reflections billed Medicaid for $8.7 million between 2012 and 2014, more than any other counseling agency of its kind in the state.

A judge still has to sign off on the plea agreement, as well as potential prison time, fines and forfeitures linked to the charges.

Leak has also run afoul of NCAA and state policies that prohibit college athletes from accepting gifts or financial benefits from boosters.

In a 2015, federal investigators seized a high-end sports car that Leak helped purchase for former N.C. State basketball player C.J. Leslie. Agents said the down payment for the car came from the counseling business.

Leak has also been accused in court documents of stealing about $500,000 from former N.C. State football star David Amerson and former Greensboro high school football star Keenan Allen. At the time of the alleged theft, Leak and Amerson had a business partnership through Hot Shot Sports, a company that handled Amerson's finances during the playing season.

Leak played football for the Wolfpack in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but N.C. State has ordered him to stay off campus and away from its student-athletes.