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19 Indians indicted for $60 mn medical fraud in US
US Federal prosecutors have charged 26 people,
including 19 Indians, with participating in a scheme to defraud
government Medicare and Medicaid services for the elderly of
nearly $60 million in unwarranted.
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Washington: Several
Indian-Americans are among 107 people charged in Medicare fraud
schemes involving $450 million in false billings uncovered in an
operation across seven cities in the largest US bust in recent
history.
Top US law enforcement officials announced the charges were filed
in seven metropolitan areas, capping an investigation of several
months into efforts to defraud Medicare, Medicaid and other
federal health programmes for senior citizens.
At least 91 of the defendants in the case have been taken into
custody following an early morning roundup and the execution of 20
search warrants, the officials said.
In Miami, 59 people were charged. Seven defendants were charged in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, nine were charged in Houston, eight were
charged in Los Angeles, 22 were charged in Detroit, one was
charged in Chicago and one in Tampa.
At least four Indian Americans figured among those charged in
Detroit.
While Sachin Sharma, 36, and Dana Sharma, 29, of Michigan and two
others were charged for their roles in a $23 million scheme to
defraud Medicare, Madhur Thawani, 27, and Ankit Patel, 27, also of
Michigan and three others were charged in another $13.8 million
scheme to defraud Medicare.
Those arrested include nurses, therapists, social workers and a
pharmacist. Charges against ambulance companies for billing to
cover unnecessary rides represented a new wrinkle in fraud
enforcement, officials said.
FBI Deputy Director Sean Joyce told a press conference here to
announce the charges that the FBI is currently investigating more
than 2,600 cases of health care fraud.
In 2011, the FBI charged more than 1,600 individuals, and helped
secure more than 700 convictions, he said.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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