Thirteen Individuals Indicted in Health Care Fraud and Drug Distribution Scheme
Five Doctors, Four Pharmacists, and Home Health Agency Owner Among Those Indicted in Follow-Up to the Babubhai Patel Case

Thirteen individuals have been charged in a large-scale health care fraud and drug distribution scheme, United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced today.

McQuade was joined in the announcement by Special Agent in Charge Robert L. Corso of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Special Agent in Charge Robert D. Foley, III of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Lamont Pugh, Special Agent in Charge of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The superseding indictment, unsealed yesterday, adds 13 new defendants and new charges to a 2011 indictment, which charged Canton Pharmacist Babubhai ‘Bob” Patel with overseeing a massive health care fraud and drug distribution ring at more than 20 pharmacies that he owned and controlled in metro-Detroit.

The 13 new defendants named in the superseding indictment include five doctors, four pharmacists, and a home health agency owner:

• pharmacist Mehul Patel, 34, of Canton
• pharmacist Pradeep Pandya, 49, of Grand Blanc
• pharmacist Vikas Sharma, 34, of Windsor
• pharmacist Mukesh Khunt, 33, of Toronto
• physicians Richard Utarnachitt, 71; of Clinton Township
• physician Ruben Benito, 72, of Madison Heights
• physician Javaid Bashir, 59, of Jackson
• physician Carl Fowler, 60, of West Bloomfield
• physician Rajat Daniel, 47, of West Bloomfield
• home health agency owner Vinod Patel, 40, of Canton
• business associate Atul Patel, 31, of Canton
• marketer Anthony Macklin, a.k.a. “Jimbo,” of Detroit
• marketer Michael Thoran, a.k.a. “Ace,” also of Detroit

The 21-count superseding indictment charges that Babubhai Patel was the owner and controller of approximately 26 Michigan pharmacies. The indictment alleges that Babubhai Patel would offer and provide kickbacks, bribes, and other illegal benefits to physicians to induce those physicians to write prescriptions for patients with Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance. Patel would also direct that those prescriptions be presented to one of the Patel Pharmacies for billing. In exchange for their kickbacks and inducements, the physicians would write prescriptions for the patients and bill the relevant insurers for services supposedly provided to the patients without regard to the medical necessity of those prescriptions and services. The physicians would direct the patients to fill their prescriptions at one of the Patel Pharmacies, where Babubhai Patel and his pharmacists would bill insurers, including Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers, for dispensing the medications, despite the fact that the medications were medically unnecessary and, in many cases, never provided. Patients were recruited into the scheme by patient recruiters or “marketers,” who would pay kickbacks and bribes to patients in exchange for the patients’ permitting the Patel Pharmacies and the physicians associated with Patel to bill their insurance for medications and services that were medically unnecessary and/or never provided.

The indictment further alleges a conspiracy to distribute controlled substances at the Patel pharmacies to facilitate the submission of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers. According to the indictment, Babubhai Patel and his associates paid physicians kickbacks for prescriptions for controlled substances for their patients and directed those patients to fill the prescriptions at a Patel Pharmacy. The controlled substances included the Schedule II drug oxycodone (Oxycontin), the Schedule III drug hydrocodone (Vicodin, Lortab), the Schedule IV drug alprazolam (Xanax), and the Schedule V drug cough syrup with codeine. According to the indictment, prescriptions for these drugs were written outside the course of legitimate medical practice. Babubhai Patel and his pharmacists would then dispense the controlled drugs to patients without medical necessity. The distribution of controlled substances in this manner was intended, in part, as a kickback to the patients for agreeing to enable their insurance cards to be billed for medications purportedly dispensed at the Patel Pharmacies. The indictment also alleges that Babubhai Patel and his pharmacists dispensed controlled substances outside the scope of legitimate medical practice to patient recruiters or “marketers,” as a kickback for their efforts in to recruit patients into the scheme.

In addition to his pharmacies, the indictment alleges that Babubhai Patel had an ownership interest in a home health agency managed by his brother, Vinod Patel. The indictment alleges that Vinod Patel, Babubhai Patel, and others bribed physicians and other referral sources for referrals to that home health agency and then billed the Medicare program for home health services that were medically unnecessary and never provided.

Of the 26 defendants originally charged in the indictment, six, including Babubhai Patel and four pharmacists, were convicted at a trial last summer. Fifteen additional defendants, including six pharmacists and two doctors, have pleaded guilty in the case. The five remaining defendants whose charges were renewed in the superseding indictment are set for trial on June 10, 2013. On February 1, 2013, Babubhai Patel was sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment by U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Tarnow.

“Taxpayers fund Medicare and Medicaid to provide health care for needy citizens,” McQuade said. “We hope that doctors and pharmacists will take note that if they exploit these programs for personal profit, they will face serious consequences.”

Robert L. Corso, Special Agent in Charge of DEA’s Detroit Field Division stated, “Confronting the illegal diversion and abuse of controlled pharmaceuticals is a top priority of DEA and our law enforcement partners. Today’s indictments, particularly of the medical professionals are significant. It is alleged that these individuals abused their positions of trust and endangered the lives of countless people by illegally distributing opiate painkillers and depressants throughout southeast Michigan. This investigation makes it clear that the DEA and our partners in law enforcement will continue to investigate and bring to justice those individuals that are responsible for the illegal distribution of prescription medicines.”

FBI Special Agent Robert Foley stated, “Dishonest health care providers and pharmacists who exploit Medicare and Medicaid through fraudulent billing and other schemes will be held accountable for their crimes. The FBI remains committed to investigating this type of fraud and bringing those who abuse the system to justice.”

“Schemes involving the illegal diversion and/or distribution of controlled substances go hand and hand with the fraudulent billing of Medicare and other health care programs,” said Lamont Pugh, III, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Inspector General—Chicago Regional Office. “The OIG and our law enforcement partners are acutely aware of the potential for those who commit health care fraud to utilize this blended approach when seeking to line their pockets with tax payer dollars. The indictments and arrests announced today illustrate our combined commitment and effort to protect the safety and well-being of the public and as well as the health care programs they rely upon.”

The investigation in this case was handled by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John K. Neal and Wayne F. Pratt.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.