Egyptian Nationals Found Guilty of Obstruction of Justice

Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced today that, on Friday, October 2, 2009, Dr. Hany M. Iskander, age 48, and his wife, Evat Hanna, age 43, both of Powell, Ohio, were each found guilty on five out of six counts of Obstruction of Justice following a two-week jury trial before United States District Court Judge Solomon Oliver, Jr. in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Superseding Indictment described how the defendants, both Egyptian nationals here on work visas, obstructed the health care fraud investigation involving Dr. Iskander’s pain management business with locations in Bucyrus, Ohio and Lewis Center, Ohio. The defendants were charged with shredding and mutilating medical records to impede the federal investigation. The defendants also removed all of the patient medical files from the Bucyrus office (approximately 1500 patient files) and secreted the records in garbage bags in their Powell, Ohio, residence on January 8, 2008. Iskander was arrested on a complaint filed on January 9, 2008, and Hanna was arrested on a complaint filed on January 14, 2008, after it was discovered that they had destroyed medical records, had concealed patient medical files from investigators, and were packing nearly all of their belongings in their house in Powell for overseas shipment with the intent to flee to Egypt on January 14, 2008.

The Superseding Indictment returned by the federal Grand Jury in Cleveland, Ohio on January 29, 2009, charged both defendants with the following: Count 1, obstructing a federal investigation in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. §1519; Count 2, obstructing a federal health care investigation in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. §1518; Count 3, mutilating records in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c); Count 4, concealing documents with the intent to impede a federal grand jury investigation in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. §1512(c); Count 5, mutilating records in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c); and Count 6, conspiracy to obstruct justice in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. § 371.

Iskander was convicted by a jury of Counts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. Hanna was convicted by a jury of Counts 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6. The trial began on September 17, 2009, and concluded with the jury’s verdict on October 2, 2009.

The actual sentence in this case will be determined by the Court under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines which depend upon a number of factors unique to each case, including the defendant's prior criminal record, if any, the defendant's role in the offense and the unique characteristics of the violation. In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Rebecca Lutzko and James C. Lynch, following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Cleveland, Ohio, the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Cleveland, Ohio and Mansfield, Ohio, and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Office of the Attorney General, State of Ohio.