Medicaid provider tied to alleged $60M fraud
Alleged money laundering AZ pastor co-signed lease for Oregon company that rec'd Medicaid reimbursements; OR company co-owner works with owner of AZ company at center of alleged fraud ring
An Arizona pastor charged in that state with helping to launder $60 million for a Medicaid fraud ring co-signed a lease for Oregon Medicaid provider Uplifting Journey LLC, which itself pocketed at least $2.3 million in Medicaid reimbursements and quickly closed its Lake Oswego treatment house after two of its residents were accused of robbing, torturing and attempting to murder a Washington woman in January, according to lease documents obtained exclusively by Oregon Roundup Foundation.
Embattled Arizona pastor helps Uplifting Journey secure an Oregon lease
The evidence of the involvement of Theodore Mucuranyana, the Arizona pastor at the center of Arizona Attorney General Kristin Mayes’ (D) high-profile fraud prosecution, with Uplifting Journey follows extensive reporting by Oregon Roundup Foundation on the Oregon company’s own troubled but lucrative track record.
Uplifting Journey operated its Lake Oswego recovery home until September 2025, shortly after Oregon Roundup Foundation first reported on the fact it received $2.3 million in Medicaid reimbursements in less than a year. The house first gained notoriety as the alleged home of two men Washington prosecutors allege traveled to the Seattle area, robbed, kidnapped, tortured and attempted to murder a woman. The Post Millenial reported Lake Oswego police previously made numerous visits to the house on neighbor reports of a woman screaming and coming and going at odd hours of the night.
In April, Mayes charged Mucuranyana, pastor of Hope of Life International Church of Phoenix, Arizona of multiple counts of Money Laundering for allegedly receiving payments via the church in amounts up to $5 million from Medicaid provider Happy House Behavioral Health LLC. In the same indictment, Mayes charged Happy House Behavioral Health and its owners, Desire Rusingizwa and Fabrice Mvuyekure of defrauding Arizona’s Medicaid agency of $60 million by obtaining reimbursements for deceased clients, incarcerated clients and on other fraudulent bases.
Mucuranyana’s attorney Joshua Koslrud has denied Mucuranyana laundered money in Arizona.
Uplifting Journey, which is part of a network of similar Oregon companies involving an owner named Julius Maximo, entered into a lease for residential real property in Gresham, Oregon, in November 2024. The lease is signed by Maximo on behalf of Uplifting Journey, and co-signed by Theodore Mucuranyana, the Arizona pastor and alleged money launderer.
The landlord’s representative provided Oregon Roundup Foundation with a photocopy of Mucuranyana’s Arizona driver license, which the landlord received for the purpose of verifying Mucuranyana’s idenftity as part of the lease co-signing process. The license bears the name “Theodore Mucuranyana” with an address in Avondale, Arizona that matches the publicly available home address for Mucuranyana. The license photo matches photos of Mucuranyana available online.
Oregon Roundup Foundation is not publishing the driver license image because of privacy laws. It is not publishing the identity of the Gresham property landlord, or the address of that property, at the landlord’s request. The landlord representative told Oregon Roundup Foundation the landlord is in the process of evicting Uplifting Journey and its handful of residents for non-payment of rent.
Kolsrud, Mucuranyana’s attorney, citing Arizona attorney rules, declined to confirm whether his client co-signed the Gresham lease for Uplifting Journey. In an email, Kolsrud wrote that his client would not be commenting for this article, either.
On its website, Hope of Life International Church in Phoenix, Arizona describes its mission “to bring hope for lost souls, especially to those of East African descent.” Attorney General Mayes’ indictment alleges the fraudulent behavioral health company laundered its misbegotten millions via a $5 million and other payments to the church, $2 million of which the church allegedly wired to “an entity in Rwanda” in December 2023. Rwanda is a small, war-torn country in central eastern Africa.
Uplifting Journey co-owner linked to alleged Arizona fraudster
Mucuranyana’s co-signing its Gresham lease is not the only connection between Uplifting Journey and Arizona. Oregon business records list Espoir Ntezeyombi as the co-owner of the company, along with Julius Maximo. A LinkedIn profile of someone with that name shows employment as a “Behavioral Health Technician” for an Uplifting Care LLC in Arizona.
Arizona business records show Uplifting Care LLC’s statutory agent - the person designated by the company to receive service of process on behalf of the company - is Desire Rusingizwa, the same name as the indicted co-owner of alleged fraudulent Happy House Behavioral Health. The Glendale, Arizona address for the members of Uplifting Care matches an address provided to the Gresham landlord for Mucuranyana.
One such member, Fred Ndungutse, was the point of contact for the Gresham landlord’s communications regarding Mucuranyana’s co-signing the Uplifting Journey lease, according to an email obtained by Oregon Roundup Foundation.
Previous reporting by Oregon Roundup Foundation revealed another Julius Maximo-owned Oregon company, Life Restoration Missions LLC, doing business as Restorative Journey, registered to receive Medicaid reimbursements from the Oregon Health Authority, which administers the Medicaid program for the state. According to records obtained by Oregon Roundup Foundation, OHA paid Restorative Journey $159 as of September.
State Representative Ed Diehl in September demanded the Oregon Department of Justice and federal agencies investigate possible Medicaid fraud by Uplifting Journey and related individuals and businesses based upon Oregon Roundup Foundation’s reporting. Diehl told Oregon Roundup Foundation yesterday he has received no response from Oregon DOJ.
A spokesperson for Oregon DOJ has not, as of publication of this article, responded to an email from Oregon Roundup Foundation after business hours last night asking whether the agency has taken any action with regard to Uplifting Journey. We will update this story to include a response from DOJ if we receive one*.
Oregon’s Attorney General Dan Rayfield (D), who runs DOJ, and Governor Tina Kotek (D) have been highly critical of President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans’ attempts to rein in what Republicans call Medicaid fraud and waste. Kotek said the Medicaid provisions in Republicans’ “Big Beautiful Bill” “betrayed” American children and families,” according to The Statesman Journal.
*Update 1 pm December 9: Jenny Hansson, spokesperson for Oregon DOJ, emailed not long after this article was published to tell us DOJ does not comment on whether it is investigating a specific matter. She said DOJ will make a public announcement if it has something to say.
Oregon Roundup Foundation created this article. ORF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation dedicated to covering Oregon political and government news. Media outlets are welcome to use this article for free with attribution of the author and Oregon Roundup Foundation. If your local news outlet isn’t carrying ORF articles, ask ‘em why.
In light of the eye-popping fraud in Minnesota, this has aged about as well as a dead rat in a wall.
Kudos to Jeff for being on this early.
It is almost like there is a pattern to these things.