West Bloomfield Resident Indicted in Health Care Fraud Scheme

A West Bloomfield resident was among 26 people indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Detroit, in connection with a large-scale health care fraud and drug distribution scheme.

According to a release issued by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), patient recruiter Leodis Elliott, 41, of West Bloomfield was included in the 34-count indictment.

The indictment alleges that Babubhai "Bob" Patel, 49, a Canton pharmacist, owner of 26 pharmacies statewide, concealed his ownership and control over many of the pharmacies through the use of straw owners. The government alleges Patel paid kickbacks and other inducements to physicians who wrote unnecessary prescriptions for patients with Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance. The physicians would then direct patients to have their prescriptions filled at a Patel pharmacy.

According to the indictment, Babubhai Patel and his pharmacists would bill insurers for dispensing the medications, despite the fact that the medications were medically unnecessary and/or never provided. Patients recruited into the scheme would be paid by recruiters in exchange for allowing Patel pharmacies to bill their insurers for the unnecessary and undelivered prescriptions.

The indictment further alleges Patel and his associates paid physicians and podiatrists associated with the scheme kickbacks and other inducements in exchange for writing prescriptions for controlled substances including OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax and cough syrup with codeine, and directing those patients to fill the prescriptions at a Patel Pharmacy. This was intended, in part, as a kickback to the patients for cooperating with the scheme. The indictment also alleges that Patel and his pharmacists dispensed controlled substances outside the scope of legitimate medical practice to patient recruiters, as a kickback for their efforts to recruit patients into the scheme.

According to the indictment, the Patel Pharmacies billed the Medicare program at least $37.7 million over the course of the scheme (since January 2006), and at least $20.8 million for medications purportedly provided to Medicaid beneficiaries over the course of the scheme. The indictment further alleges that since January of 2009, the Patel pharmacies have dispensed at least 250,000 doses of Oxycontin, 4.6 million doses of Vicodin, 1.5 million doses of Xanax, and 6,100 pint bottles of codeine cough syrup.

In addition to Babubhai Patel, those named in the 34‑count indictment were physician Paul Petre, 43, of Rochester Hills; pharmacist Dineshkmar Patel, 33, of Canton; pharmacist Anish Bhavsar, 35, of Canton; pharmacist Ashwini Sharma, 33, of Novi; pharmacist Pinakeen Patel, 32, of Sterling Heights; pharmacist Kartik Shah, 34, of Canton, pharmacist Viral Thaker, 30, of Findlay, Ohio; pharmacist Hiren Patel, 31, of Novi; pharmacist Miteshkumar Patel, 37, of Troy; pharmacist Lokeh Tayal, 35, of Canton; accountant Chetan Gujarathi, 38, of Canton; business associate Arpitkumar Patel, 26, of Romulus; business associate Harpreet Sachdeva, 38, of Canton; business associate Ramesh patel, 50, of Canton; business associate Rana Naeem, 60, of Rochester Hills; podiatrist Anmy Tran, 40, of Macomb; physician Mustak Vaid, 38, of Brownstown Township; psychologist and patient recruiter Sanyani Edwards, 32, of Ferndale; patient recruiter LaVar Carter, 34, of Macomb; pharmacist Narendera Cheraku, 33, of Farmington Hills; Sumanray Raval, 54, of Farmington Hills; physician Mark Greenbain, 69, of Farmington Hills; and Komal Acharya, 27, of Farmington Hills.

The investigation of this case was handled by the DEA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. Assisting in the investigation were the United States Marshal Service, Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Michigan Attorney General's Office, the State of Michigan Department of Community Health, Gross Ile Police Department, River Rouge Police Department, Livonia Police Department, Livingston County Sheriff's Department, Dearborn Heights Police Department and the Clinton Township Police Department. 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 where it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.