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Arizona prosecutors charged Juan Carlos da Cunha Tcachman with diverting about $12.9 million in Medicaid payments meant for Phoenix Children's Hospital.
The Arizona Attorney General's Office filed a direct complaint in Maricopa County Superior Court charging Juan Carlos da Cunha Tcachman, 56, with fraudulent schemes and theft over AHCCCS payments meant for Phoenix Children's Hospital, ABC15 reported Oct. 20, 2026. He has not been arrested, and a related complaint charges Joao Luiz Malago in a separate diversion of payments meant for Mayo Clinic.
By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer ·
A direct complaint is the charging paper, and Tcachman has not been arrested. The Arizona Attorney General's Office said it is seeking warrants after the complaint described $12,891,725.10 in AHCCCS payments redirected from Phoenix Children's Hospital, part of which has been recovered. No court date is set.
The Arizona Attorney General's Office filed a direct complaint in Maricopa County Superior Court charging Juan Carlos da Cunha Tcachman, 56, with fraudulent schemes and artifices and with theft of control of property, ABC15 reported on Oct. 20, 2026. Both counts are Class 2 felonies. He has not been arrested. A direct complaint is the charging document the attorney general's office put in front of the court.
The complaint describes a change to the account where Arizona's Medicaid program sent a hospital's money. Beginning in July 2026, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, known as AHCCCS, received a fax carrying an apparently fraudulent Wells Fargo letter, ABC15 reported. The letter claimed that Phoenix Children's Hospital's account number had changed as of July 1, 2026. An AHCCCS employee spoke by phone with a person identified as Michelle and approved the electronic-funds-transfer change. Three payments of about $4.29 million each then went out, totaling $12,891,725.10. Part of that money has been recovered. The total is the figure in the complaint. The outlets did not publish how much is still outstanding.
Investigators say Tcachman was the account holder and the signer, and that he opened the account with a District of Columbia passport. The complaint describes multiple high-value withdrawals in August and September 2026. Investigators compared Wells Fargo surveillance images from cash withdrawals in Miami with his passport photograph and believe the images show the same person. That comparison is the conclusion the complaint attributes to investigators. A photo comparison in a charging paper is not a jury finding.
On Oct. 3, 2026, during an undercover contact described in the complaint, he confirmed his identity, said he handles 100 percent of the activity on the account, and said he expected client payments. He said he did not know the money came from a government source or from Arizona. He tied the deposits to an investor he met online. Those sentences are what the complaint says he told an undercover contact. They are not a plea, and he has not been taken into custody on the complaint.
The attorney general's office said it is seeking warrants and declined to comment further. AHCCCS declined comment. No court date has been set for Tcachman. A related complaint charges Joao Luiz Malago, 66, with the same two felonies. Prosecutors accuse Malago of using forged bank letters and impersonated messages from executives to divert $458,407.08 in AHCCCS payments meant for Mayo Clinic. Attorney general's agents arrested Malago in Florida, and he is to be returned to Arizona, ABC15 reported. His arrest belongs to that separate complaint. Tcachman's case is still a complaint without an arrest. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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