A man in West New York, N.J., was sentenced to 41 months in prison for 11 counts of defrauding the government out of more than $4.72 million and transacting the proceedings, according to a Nov. 18 release by the Department of Justice.
Kaival Patel was convicted on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and healthcare fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering by transacting in criminal proceedings and five counts of money laundering by transacting in criminal proceedings in December 2023.
Mr. Patel owned and operated ABC Healthy Living to market compound prescription medications. He and his conspirators realized that certain government employees had insurance that would reimburse thousands of dollars for certain compound medications such as vitamins, scar creams and pain creams, among others. He and the conspirators convinced one of Mr. Patel's family members, a physician who owns and operates a clinic in Newark, N.J., to authorize prescriptions for the medications for patients who did not need them. Mr. Patel then reaped the commissions from these prescriptions.
He and his conspirators also paid a group of corrections officers to go to the medical practice and receive the fraudulent prescriptions. He conspired with a compounding pharmacist to add unnecessary ingredients to the medications to increase their costs and profits.
Approximately 48 people have been convicted or pleaded guilty in the scheme.