Shahzad Mirza, Jigar Patel and Srinivas Reddy.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Three Indian-origin men in Detroit were convicted last week for their roles in orchestrating a fraud scheme that bilked around $15 million from the federal Medicare program.
Physical therapist Shahzad Mirza (43), physical therapy assistant Jigar Patel (30), and foreign medical school graduate Srinivas Reddy (38) were all convicted on various charges. The trio used five businesses in the Detroit area to fraudulently bill Medicare for over three years.
According to the Department of Justice, all three men were convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, while Mirza and Patel were found guilty of two counts of healthcare fraud each. Additionally, Reddy was found guilty of three counts of healthcare fraud, Patel was found guilty of one count of money laundering.
The scheme was orchestrated between July 2008 and September 2011, with the three men using Physicians Choice Home Health Care LLC, Quantum Home Care Inc., First Care Home Health Care LLC, Moonlite Home Care Inc., and Phoenix Visiting Physicians.
These home healthcare companies “paid kickbacks to recruiters who in turn paid Medicare beneficiaries cash and promised them access to narcotic prescriptions.” Reddy operated Phoenix, which was created by him and the other two men, and employed unlicensed people to perform medical care. Reddy himself was also not licensed.
“Evidence presented at trial showed that beneficiaries pre-signed medical paperwork that was provided to Patel and other physical therapist assistants to fill in with false information purporting to show that the care was provided, when it was not,” said the Department of Justice, which also charged and convicted conspirators on allegations for laundering their illicit profits through various shell companies.
A sentencing date for Mirza, Patel, and Reddy has not yet been announced. The men were brought down by an investigation conducted by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which was formed in March of 2007 and has charged more 1,700 individuals since its inception, re-claiming $5.5 billion in fraudulent money.