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on February 01, 2013 at 7:04 PM, updated February 01, 2013 at 7:13 PM
DETROIT, MI -- A Canton man who owned 26 Detroit-area pharmacies and ran what federal investigators called an elaborate scheme to defraud Medicare, Medicaid and Blue Cross Blue Shield was sentenced Friday to 17 years in prison and ordered to pay $18.8 million in restitution.
Pharmacist Babubhai "Bob" Patel, 50, was arrested on Aug. 2, 2011 and never released.
A jury found him guilty a year later after a six-week trial on health care fraud, distributing controlled substances and conspiracy charges, according to federal court records.
FBI, DEA and Health and Human Services agents found that between 2006 and 2011, Patel's pharmacies billed Medicare and Medicaid more than $57 million, and that "at least 25 percent of those billings were for drugs that were either medically unnecessary or never dispensed."
More fraudulent prescription drug transactions were billed to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Tarnow ordered Patel to pay back $17.3 million to Medicaid and Medicare $1.5 million to Blue Cross Blue Shield.
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on February 01, 2013 at 7:04 PM, updated February 01, 2013 at 7:13 PM
DETROIT, MI -- A Canton man who owned 26 Detroit-area pharmacies and ran what federal investigators called an elaborate scheme to defraud Medicare, Medicaid and Blue Cross Blue Shield was sentenced Friday to 17 years in prison and ordered to pay $18.8 million in restitution.
Pharmacist Babubhai "Bob" Patel, 50, was arrested on Aug. 2, 2011 and never released.
A jury found him guilty a year later after a six-week trial on health care fraud, distributing controlled substances and conspiracy charges, according to federal court records.
FBI, DEA and Health and Human Services agents found that between 2006 and 2011, Patel's pharmacies billed Medicare and Medicaid more than $57 million, and that "at least 25 percent of those billings were for drugs that were either medically unnecessary or never dispensed."
More fraudulent prescription drug transactions were billed to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Tarnow ordered Patel to pay back $17.3 million to Medicaid and Medicare $1.5 million to Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Continue reading here
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