Indian-origin lab owner in US sentenced to prison for USD 463 million scam

Houston, August 19

An Indian-origin laboratory owner from the US state of Georgia was sentenced to 27 years in prison for his involvement in a USD 463 million genetic testing scam spanning over three years to defraud Medicare.

Minal Patel, who owned LabSolutions LLC, was sentenced on Friday to 27 years in prison for his role in the scheme to defraud Medicare by submitting over USD 463 million in genetic and other laboratory tests that patients did not need and were procured through the payment of kickbacks and bribes.

The 44-year-old conspired with patient brokers, telemedicine companies and call centres to target Medicare beneficiaries with telemarketing calls falsely stating that their package covered expensive cancer genetic tests, the Department of Justice said on Friday.

After the Medicare beneficiaries agreed to take tests, Patel paid kickbacks and bribes to patient brokers to obtain signed doctors’ orders authorising the tests from telemedicine companies, the department said in a press release.