Dubai: Businessman allegedly bought villa with funds from $650 million US healthcare scam

A Pakistani businessman who allegedly bought a Dh10.6-million villa on a golf estate in Dubai is at the centre of what US authorities have described as the largest healthcare fraud scheme in the history of the US Justice Department.

According to a press release issued recently from the US Attorney's Office in Arizona, the 41-year-old has been indicted for conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, three counts of wire fraud, and money laundering. The charges stem from a $650-million scheme involving at least 41 substance abuse clinics in the US state of Arizona.

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Khaleej Times is withholding the man's name for legal reasons.

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US prosecutors allege the man owned ProMD Solutions, a Pakistan-based company that provided credentialing, enrollment, medical coding, and billing services for outpatient treatment centres.

The clinics were registered as addiction treatment centres for people with drug and alcohol dependency. But prosecutors say many of the services were either never provided, falsely billed, or so poor in quality that they served no medical purpose.

Investigators say many of the patients were recruited from homeless shelters or Native American reservations solely to inflate claim volumes. The clinics were registered with Arizona’s Medicaid programme, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), and submitted around $650 million in fraudulent claims. AHCCCS reportedly paid out $564 million based on those claims.

To back up the false billing, fake therapy notes and fabricated medical records were created. These documents were also used to mislead auditors during official reviews.

The man is believed to have personally pocketed $24.5 million from the scam. US authorities allege he used $2.9 million (Dh10.6 million) of that money to purchase a high-end property in Dubai.

“These criminals didn’t just steal someone else’s money. They stole from you (American taxpayers),” said Matthew Galeotti, who leads the Justice Department’s criminal division. “Every fraudulent claim, every fake billing, every kickback scheme represents money taken directly from the pockets of American taxpayers who fund these essential programmes through their hard work and sacrifice.”

The charges are part of a sweeping federal crackdown that has exposed nearly $15 billion in fraudulent claims. On Monday, the Justice Department announced that more than 320 people had been charged across the United States in the largest-ever coordinated takedown of healthcare fraud.

In Arizona alone, seven individuals have been charged across five separate cases, including this one involving the clinics linked to the Pakistani suspect.

Mazhar Farooqui

Mazhar Farooqui, also known as Maz, is a multiple award-winning investigative journalist and Senior ...Read More

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