A federal jury in the Southern District of Florida convicted Minal Patel of defrauding the Medicare system.
According to The American Bazaar, the 44-year-old ordered $463 million in genetic and other laboratory tests that patients did not need and got the payments for them via kickbacks.
The Justice Department said in a press release that Patel worked with patient brokers, telemedicine companies, and call centers to contact Medicare beneficiaries. He would tell the beneficiaries that Medicare covered cancer genetic tests. Once they agreed to take the test Patel would obtain payments for them through kickbacks.
“Patel was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, three counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks, four counts of paying illegal health care kickbacks, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering,” the Justice Department said in a press release.
Patel faces up to 20 years in prison.
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