Pittsburgh Resident Sentenced to 18 Months of Imprisonment for Convictions of Agreeing with Others to Pay Illegal Kickbacks Related to Laboratory Tests

PITTSBURGH, PA - A resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has been sentenced in federal court to 18 months of imprisonment, and ordered to forfeit $9 million in criminal proceeds and pay more than $77 million in restitution on his convictions for conspiring to pay illegal kickbacks related to laboratory tests, United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced today. Reddy previously pled guilty to three counts of conspiring to commit offenses against the United States and one count of offering and paying kickbacks in connection with a federal health care program.

United States District Judge William S. Stickman imposed the sentence on Ravitej Reddy, 56, of Pittsburgh, PA.

According to information presented to the court, Reddy used two Pittsburgh-area laboratories he owned and operated in the execution of three illegal kickbacks schemes. Reddy and others paid kickbacks to marketers in return for the marketers obtaining cheek swabs from Medicare beneficiaries to be used in laboratory testing. Reddy and others also paid kickbacks to ensure that telemedicine physicians provided prescriptions for laboratory testing for the swabs obtained by the marketers. Reddy’s labs then billed for the performance of the tests. In all, Reddy and others caused a loss to the United States in excess of $60 million.

United States Attorney Olshan commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General for the Investigation for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Reddy.

The United States Attorney’s Office’s efforts to combat healthcare fraud are frequently made possible by tips from the community. To report suspected fraud, please contact the FBI’s healthcare fraud tipline at WDPAhealthcarefraud@fbi.gov, or the Department of Health and Human Services at 1-800-HHS-TIPS.