Doctor indicted in $53M California fraud case — plus money laundering, drug charges [The Sacramento Bee]

Sacramento Bee (CA)

A doctor working out of a walk-in clinic in Los Banos in Merced County has been indicted by a federal grand jury on a host of offenses, including mail fraud and money laundering, as part of a disability insurance fraud scheme estimated at $53 million.

The 46-year-old was faces drugs charges for alleged use of a DEA registration number and fraudulently obtaining possession of a controlled substance.

According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday, Sohail Mamdani submitted more than 6,000 initial disability insurance claims to the California’s Employment Development Department (EDD) from February 2020 to March of this year. This, despite Mamdani never having seen or treated the majority of the claimants, the statement said.

Mamdani, who operated the Walk-In Medical Clinic in Los Banos, is also alleged to have charged purported patients fees for both the initial disability claim and any supplemental claims. He also structured financial transactions in order to avoid federal reporting requirements, according to court documents.

The potential intended losses to EDD were up to $99 million, with potential actual losses of over $53 million, the statement said.

The doctor was separately charged with using another doctor’s DEA registration number and writing fraudulent prescriptions to obtain drugs for himself.

The mail fraud charge has a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000 (or up to twice the gross gain or gross loss caused by the fraud), the Justice Department said. Additionally, Mamdani faces another 20 years in prison if convicted of the money laundering charges (which also carries a fine of up to $500,000).

The drug charges each have a maximum penalty of four years in prison and $250,000 in fines.