Appeals court overturns convictions of doctor, company owner in Medicare fraud case
A three-judge panel of the
Their eight-day trial was overseen by U.S. District Judge
Ganji was accused of bilking the government by making bogus referrals for home health care as a medical director for
The fraud scheme operated in
The appeals court judges said that even though the government produced a series of cooperating witnesses, including doctors and nurses who admitted to Medicare fraud, none of them directly implicated either Ganji or Davis.
Ganji worked in
The judges called the government's reliance on witnesses from the north shore "peculiar."
"Unlike other salient cases involving conspiracy to commit health care fraud, here the government presented 18 witnesses, none of whom could provide direct evidence of their alleged co-conspirators' actions because the witnesses never acted with the defendants," the judges said.
Instead, the government mounted a circumstantial case against both women. Prosecutors pointed out that Ganji's referrals through the company jumped from one in 2008 to 123 in 2010, after she became medical director.
The judges said it was not surprising that Ganji began referring more patients through
Meanwhile, the judges said, the government's case amounted to an argument that Davis "should have known" her business was involved in Medicare fraud. The judges said that prosecutors needed to show she was actually aware of it.
"Although the government presented a plausible scheme of fraudulence, it did not implicate Davis in the scheme with proof beyond a reasonable doubt," the appeals panel said.
The case was heard by Judges
Ganji's attorneys said they were thrilled with the ruling.
"We are over the moon happy for
Ganji was sentenced to six years and is incarcerated at a federal prison in
"Hopefully, she will be released within the next 24 to 48 hours," he said. "Once the 30 days runs, she is a free woman."
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