Much as with the previous entry, the $650 million substance abuse treatment scam allegedly run out of Pakistan, we have foreign nationals ripping off our health care system on a truly epic scale.
Here’s a $703 million Pakistani scheme.
Ruknuddin “Rick” Charolia, 43, Aamir Ali Arif, 32, Shearyar Arif, 28, and Fizza Farid, 29, all of Pakistan, were charged by indictment for their roles in a $703 million health care fraud scheme. As alleged in the indictment, they caused the submission of $703,834,742 in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans for over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits, durable medical equipment (“DME”), and genetic tests that patients never requested, received, or consented to receive. Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans paid $418,646,326 based on these claims. As further alleged, Charolia and Aamir Ali Arif operated a Pakistan-based call center,
Here’s an $894 million COVID testing fraud scheme.
Dr. Anosh Ahmed, 41, of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Mohamed Sirajudeen, 53, of Chicago, Illinois, and Mahmood Sami Khan, 36, and Suhaib Ahmad Chaudhry, 34, both of Houston, Texas, were indicted for their roles in an $894 million fraudulent COVID-19 testing scheme. As alleged in the indictment, Dr. Ahmed, Sirajudeen, and Khan caused clinical laboratories in Illinois and Texas to submit false and fraudulent claims to the HRSA COVID-19 Uninsured Program seeking reimbursement in the amount of approximately $894,520,064 for COVID-19 testing, of which approximately $293,221,468 was paid. Dr. Ahmed was a physician who used patient information obtained from a variety of sources, including a patient list from a hospital where he previously worked, to generate false claims that were submitted through a laboratory in Illinois.
A $154 million COVID testing scam.
Jamil Elkoussa, 35, of Lebanon, was charged by indictment with five counts of wire fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud the HRSA COVID-19 Uninsured Program. As alleged in the indictment, Elkoussa operated Meridian Medical Staffing, which purported to collect specimens for COVID-19 PCR tests at numerous testing sites in Illinois and Florida. Elkoussa caused a laboratory to submit approximately $233 million in fraudulent claims to the HRSA COVID-19 Uninsured Program for COVID-19 PCR tests on specimens purportedly collected from patients, even though Elkoussa knew that such specimens had not been collected from the purported patients, and many of those patients did not exist.
A $72 million COVID testing scam.
Minhaj Feroz Muhammad, 37, and Sufyan Feroze, 34, both of Naperville, Illinois, were charged by indictment for their involvement in a $72 million laboratory testing scheme. As alleged in the indictment, Muhammad and Feroze were involved in the operation of FZ Medical Inc., a laboratory in Des Plaines, Illinois. Muhammad is charged with health care fraud for causing the submission of approximately $72,526,711 in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois for COVID-19 laboratory testing services that were not provided, for which FZ Medical Inc. received at least approximately $9,783,503. Feroze, who controlled the FZ Medical bank account, is charged with money laundering for withdrawing health care fraud proceeds to obtain a cashier’s check made payable to himself.
A $65M testing scam by another foreign national named Mohammed.
Khadeer Khan Mohammed, 44, a citizen of India, was charged by indictment with health care fraud in connection with a scheme to submit false and fraudulent medical claims to Medicare for genetic testing that was allegedly never requested, ordered and/or performed. As alleged in the indictment, Mohammed, the owner of American Premier Labs LLC, located in Richardson, Texas, used the personal identifying information of physicians with no relationship to the Medicare beneficiaries, and without the physicians’ knowledge or consent, to submit the false and fraudulent claims to Medicare. In all, Mohammed caused the submission of approximately $93 million in false and fraudulent claims, of which approximately $65 million was paid, including payment of approximately $13 million over a single ten-day period in 2023.
A $35 million one.
Rami Abunakira, 39, of Richmond, Texas, was charged by information with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay and receive health care kickbacks and one count of payment of health care kickbacks in connection with a scheme to bill Medicare for medically unnecessary genetic tests that were induced by kickbacks. Abunakira and his co-conspirators submitted approximately $51.5 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare through the three laboratories, and Medicare paid approximately $33.5 million based on those claims.
Still more testing fraud.
Dr. Abu Muhammad Haque, 70, of West Islip, New York, was charged by information with conspiracy to defraud the United States and to solicit and receive health care kickbacks in connection with a $15 million fraudulent laboratory testing scheme.
Ali Rashan, 41, of New York, New York, was charged by indictment with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, health care fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to make false statements relating to health care matters, and false statements relating to health care matters. These charges relate to Rashan’s leadership in a scheme to bill insurance providers, including Medicare and Medicaid, for COVID-19 testing services and other medical services that were never provided, resulting in losses of at least approximately $24 million.
And then we get to Dearborn.
Wahid Makki, 62, Zainab Makki a/k/a “Zeinab Makki,” 62, both of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, together with the two pharmacies they operated, Kirtland Corp. a/k/a New Millennium Drugs and Western Wayne Pharmacy, LLC, have agreed to pay the United States and the State of Michigan $1,500,000 to resolve a civil qui tam lawsuit alleging that they violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims to the Medicare and Medicaid Programs for prescription drugs that New Millenium Drugs and Western Wayne Pharmacy billed to the Programs, but never dispensed. In addition, Wahid Makki has agreed to his exclusion from the Medicare, Medicaid, and all other federal health care programs for 10 years.
Along with the ‘small stuff’.
Shireen Begum, 53, of Dublin, California; Dr. Mustafa Michael Kazemi, 64, of Rescue, California; Sarkhan Murad Koshkarli, 38, of San Ramon, California; Alok Malani, 39, of Danville, California; Dr. Narendra Malani, 65, of San Ramon, California; and Mohammed Abdul Majid Siddiqui, 49, of Dublin, California, were charged by complaint with healthcare insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit healthcare insurance fraud in connection with a $2.7 million hospice fraud scheme.
Dr. Mohmmed Al-Shihabi, 55, of Northville, Michigan, was charged by indictment with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and four counts of health care fraud in connection with a $1.9 million home health care fraud scheme
Mujjahid Huq, 45, of Halesite, New York, was charged by indictment with three counts of health care fraud, two counts of unlawful monetary transactions, and conspiracy to make false statements in health care matters in connection with a $2.1 million pharmacy fraud scheme.
Mohammed Ahmad, 39, of Avon, Ohio, was charged by information with making false statements related to health care matters in connection with a durable medical equipment telemedicine scheme. As alleged in the information, Ahmad, a licensed physician, was paid by a telemedicine company to sign pre-completed orders for durable medical equipment for patients that Ahmad never saw for treatment. As a result of this scheme, Ahmad caused approximately $267,402 in false and fraudulent claims to be submitted to Medicare, of which approximately $126,643 was paid.
And those were only the ones who got caught.