U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield sentenced Mustak Y. Vaid, MD, to 18 months in prison for participating in a $30 million scheme to defraud Medicare and the New York State Medicaid program.
Here are the key facts in the case:
1. Dr. Vaid falsely posed as the owner of a medical clinic and falsely claimed he had treated and examined hundreds of patients he hadn't seen.
2, He pled guilty to healthcare fraud and conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud November 13, 2017.
3. Dr. Vaid is the seventh defendant and the first physician sentenced after pleading guilty in this case and a related case. Aleksandr Burman, the leader of the scheme, was sentenced in a related case May 8, 2017 to 10 years in prison.
4. Between 2007 and 2013, Mr. Burman owned and operated six medical clinics in Brooklyn, N.Y., that fraudulently billed Medicare and Medicaid approximately $30 million for unnecessary medical services, services that weren't completed or were otherwise fraudulently billed.
5. Under New York state law, medical clinics must be owned and operated by a medical professional. Mr. Burman, who was not a medical professional, hired Dr. Vaid and other medical professionals to pose as nominal owners of the clinics.
6. Dr. Vaid signed fraudulent documents falsely representing him as the owner of Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Ocean Side Medical to CMS, banks and other institutions.