Two perpetrators of a fraudulent genetic testing and illegal kickback scheme that siphoned more than half a billion dollars have just been sentenced to spend time behind bars.
The US Justice Department says that Reyad Salahaldeen and Mohamad Mustafa, both from Georgia, submitted over $522 million in claims for medically unnecessary genetic tests that were fraudulently obtained.
Salahaldeen controlled four laboratories, including two with Mustafa: Express Diagnostics in New Jersey, BioConfirm in Georgia and Tox Management and Tri-State Toxicology in Texas.
Court documents show that from 2018 to August 2020, Salahaldeen and his co-conspirators illegally paid kickbacks and bribes to a network of purported marketers who induced individuals covered by Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance to provide their health insurance information and DNA samples to avail of costly generic tests for predicting cancer risks and other health conditions.
They also directed the marketers to obtain fraudulent laboratory requisition forms for the tests from medical providers who had not treated the beneficiaries or used the results in the treatment.
Salahaldeen falsified laboratory requisition forms, letters of medical necessity and other medical records so the tests would appear legitimate. He also worked with Mustafa to disguise the illegal kickbacks and bribes by creating sham contracts and invoices.
The DOJ says that Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers paid $84 million of the $522 million in fraudulent claims that the four laboratories billed.
Says Colin M. McDonald, Assistant Attorney for the National Fraud Enforcement Division,
“Under the guise of health care, these two fraudsters attempted to steal more than half a billion dollars from taxpayers through a web of sham contracts, lies, and bribes. These schemes deplete America’s pocketbook and destroy the trust in medicine that patients deserve and demand.”
Salahaldeen was sentenced to 151 months in prison. Mustafa was sentenced to three years.
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