JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Attorney General Jay Nixon filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the owner and operator of a group home where 10 people died in a fire.  Nixon says a man previously convicted of Medicare and Medicaid fraud secretly and illegally ran the business.

  The lawsuit seeks to recoup nearly $700,000 in Medicaid payments to Joplin River of Life Ministries.  It also seeks damages of about $2 million in civil penalties.

  A fire on Nov. 27 fire at the Anderson Guest House killed nine residents and one staff member and injured two dozen other people.  The state-licensed home was for mentally ill people and elderly people.

  Nixon alleges the company lied to state regulators to conceal the fact it was run by Robert DuPont.  He served time in a federal prison after pleading guilty in 2003 for a fraud scheme.

  State laws bars DuPont from operating a long-term care facility and federal law prohibits him from participating in the Medicaid program.