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October 09, 2026
LANSING — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has announced David Tanay and Scott Teter, two Department Division Chiefs, have received this year’s Courage and Heart Award (PNG). The award from the Michigan Elder Justice Initiative recognizes people whose work exemplifies a dedication to improving the lives of older adults and people with disabilities.
“David and Scott have devoted their careers to protecting people who are too often targeted, overlooked or unable to protect themselves,” said Attorney General Nessel. “They persevere and do not stop when a case gets difficult. And Michigan families have benefited. These awards reflect the commitment of both men, as well as the broader teams and partnerships they have cultivated to help vulnerable Michiganders.”
David Tanay
Tanay has served as Division Chief of the Health Care Fraud Division since 2010. He helped create the Sentinel Project in 2021. The focus of the Sentinel Protect is long-term care facilities and the investigation of abuse and neglect of vulnerable residents.
Under Tanay’s leadership, the project has brought together investigators and attorneys who pursue allegations of abuse and neglect. In the team’s more than 100 site visits across Michigan, they review records, interview staff and residents, and follow leads. In some cases, the investigations result in criminal charges or civil litigation.
Tanay and his team recently filed a case against a nursing home provider. The case involved the False Claims Act and Tanay’s team is using a novel legal approach to try to hold the provider accountable. The complaint alleged that Fahim Uddin and Pioneer Health Care Management (doing business as Legacy Health Care Management) accepted over $111.2 million in Medicaid reimbursements between 2020 and 2025 while failing minimum staffing requirements and daily care hour thresholds approximately 96% of the time.
But the impact of the Sentinel Project extends beyond the individual cases it brings. The investigations the project conducts let long-term care providers know that allegations of abuse and neglect will be taken seriously. The Department will always dig deeper when vulnerable residents may be at risk.
Scott Teter
Teter, Division Chief of the Financial Crimes Division and a former Cass County prosecutor, has spent years protecting vulnerable adults from abuse, neglect and financial exploitation.
Nessel created the Elder Abuse Task Force (EATF) in 2019 and selected Teter to lead it. The EATF’s work has centered on strengthening protections for people under legal guardianship and for older adults. Among Teter’s accomplishments with the EATF was helping advance the Financial Exploitation Prevention Act and the Uniform Power of Attorney Law. The task force also helped advance recent changes designed to better protect people under guardianship from being removed from their homes.
The task force has also developed training for professionals who work with vulnerable adults and has created a uniform Vulnerable Adult Incident Report to help improve how suspected abuse and neglect are reported and addressed.
Tanay and Teter received their awards on September 25 at the State Bar Elder Law and Disability Rights Section conference in Grand Rapids.
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