More Indian American doctors caught in DOJ’s Medicare-Medicaid dragnet

WASHINGTON,D.C.— Indian American physicians continued to be ensnared under the U.S. Department of Justice’s zero tolerance policy toward Medicare and Medicaid fraud.

On Feb. 22, a federal jury in Houston convicted Dr. Harcharan Narang, a 50-year-old internal medicine doctor and Dayakar Moparty, a 47-year-old hospital owner of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, 17 counts of health care fraud and three counts of money laundering.

The convictions were announced by U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick and Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division. The jury deliberated for less than four hours following a two-week trial before convicting Narang and Moparty.

Narang, a doctor who owned and practiced at North Cypress Clinical Associates, and Moparty, who managed and operated Red Oak Hospital, conspired to commit health care fraud. During the trial, the jury heard evidence that Narang and Moparty unlawfully enriched themselves by submitting false and fraudulent claims for medical tests that were not medically necessary, not provided or both and then billed at Red Oak Hospital at a higher reimbursement rate.

Additionally, Narang and his co-conspirators falsified home health patient assessment form documents to make the beneficiaries appear sicker on paper to receive higher reimbursement rates from health care benefit programs such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna and Aetna.

Moparty also also instructed his employees to falsely bill the medical services at Red Oak Hospital and other entities associated with Moparty, when in fact, the patients never received services from Red Oak and the other entities.

At trial, patients consistently testified that they had merely but a Groupon for weight loss shots. However, after meeting with Narang, they all received the same battery of medical tests that were not needed or provided. Health care benefit programs paid Red Oak Hospital approximately $3.2 million. Moparty then covertly paid Narang approximately $3 million to various corporate entities Narang owned.

Narang and MoParty’s co-conspirator, Dr. Gurnaib Sidhu, 67, of Houston, had previously pleaded to conspiracy to commit to health care fraud and is awaiting sentencing.

Narang and Moparty face up 10 years in federal prison for each count of health care fraud and up to 20 years for each count of money laundering. Narang and Moparty were permitted to remain on bond with an ankle monitor pending their sentencing hearing, set for June 20, 2019, before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake.

On February 15, 2019, Dr. Sheetal Kanar Kumar, who previously worked in Stuart, Florida, was convicted by a federal jury of committing repeated acts of health care fraud.

Kumar, 48, was found guilty by a jury of committing twenty-three counts of health care fraud, according to Ariana Fajardo Orshan, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, who also announced that he was scheduled to be sentenced on April 19, 2019 by U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra in Fort Pierce.

According to the court record, including evidence introduced at trial, Kumar—an obstetrician and gynecologist who treated incontinence, owned and operated the medical practice Advanced Healthcare for Women in Stuart, Florida.

From at least as early as January 2014, until July 2017, Kumar had submitted or caused the fraudulent submissions of claims to Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies.  The fraudulent claims sought money for specific health care benefits, items, and services that were not provided as billed. 

As a result of such false and fraudulent claims, Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies, made payments in the approximate amount of $637,000, the indictment said.

Over the past three months, more than half-a-dozen Indian and South Asian American physicians have been snarled by the DOJ, indicted and pleaded guilty for distributing highly addictive prescription drugs Oxycodone and Hydrocodone to patients without a medical purpose, and/or involved in massive Medicare and Medicaid fraud.

Perhaps, the mother of all such indictments has been the recent indictment of Dr. Rajendra ‘Raj’ Bothra, 77, of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan--one of the most high profile Indian American Republican Party activists and fundraisers in the mid- to late-1980’s and early 1990’s, who even hosted major fund-raisers for then President George H.W. Bush and other senior GOP lawmakers and party hierarchy in his palatial home—who was the mastermind behind an alleged massive $464 million health care fraud conspiracy, which the federal government said had fueled the opioid epidemic.

On Jan. 15, Bothra posted a Bernie Madoff-sized bond to return home and await his trial on 17 charges.

They include health care fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute drugs, and aiding and abetting the unlawful distribution of drugs. The drug charges are 20-year felonies while the health care charges are punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Murphy, released Bothra on a $7 million bond which eclipsed the previous record-high bond of 4.5 million in the state, which was granted two years ago to another Indian American physician, Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, who was charged in the nation's first case involving female genital mutilation.

On Dec. 4, a grand jury had returned an indictment that charged Bothra—erstwhile Chief of Surgery at the Holy Cross Hospital, Detroit and a 1999 Padmashri winner-- and five other physicians as part of an investigation into alleged health care fraud conspiracy in cheating Medicare and Medicaid, which involved more than 13 million unlawfully prescribed opioid prescription drugs that was not only as one of the largest medical frauds in Michigan, but in the country.

Meanwhile, on Feb. 14, Indra Nayee, 51, of Metuchen, New Jersey, a former defense contractor with a branch office in Lake Hopatcong, also in N.J., along with Robert Dombroski, 63, of Branchville, N.Y., a former civilian employee at Picatinny Arsenal were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Nayee was charged by complaint with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, while Dombroski was with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of making false statements.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, Dombroski worked at Picatinny Arsenal for over 30 years, retiring as a federal employee in 2015. He was then hired as a civilian, serving as a Senior Products Manager for advanced weapons. Prior to retiring, Dombroski held the position of senior associate for advanced weapons and worked on and supervised contract projects with a defense contractor, identified in court papers as “Company A,” which is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, and has a branch office in Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey. In that capacity, Dombroski had influence over the awarding of government contracts to this company and influenced how the money was allocated.

Nayee was the former Picatinny Arsenal division director of Company A, and had direct oversight and control over how his company executed the government contracts it had with Picatinny Arsenal. He supervised and directly managed all branch employees. Nayee was the primary point of contact at Company A for Picatinny Arsenal employees, including Dombrowski.

From 2010 through 2018, Dombroski and Nayee conspired with other federal employees at Picatinny Arsenal and employees of Company A to seek and accept gifts and other items of value, such as Apple products, luxury handbags, Beats headphones, and tickets to a luxury sky box at professional sporting events, valued at $150,000 to $250,000, in exchange for government contracts and other favorable assistance for Company A at Picatinny Arsenal.

The count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The false statement charges each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison.