The New York State Attorney General’s Office announced on December 5 that Muhammad Rizwan Khan, Muhammad Usman Khan and Farhan Khan and their Orange County-based transportation companies, Tristate Express NY, Inc., Meditrans NY Inc. and Empire Trans NY Inc., pleaded guilty to various felony grand larceny charges in connection with a fraudulent scheme that resulted in the theft of more than $3.8 million from New York State’s Medicaid program.
Recipients of Medicaid who do not have access to transportation for purposes of receiving covered medical services are permitted to use approved transportation providers when traveling to and from these services. The transportation provider can then bill Medicaid and be reimbursed for its services. From September 2019 until October 2023, the Khans, through their transportation companies, submitted claims to Medicaid for fake trips which included fictitious tolls that exceeded any toll that could have actually been incurred in the service area. To accomplish this, the Khans implemented an illegal kickback scheme through which they recruited Medicaid patients and paid them weekly kickback payments in exchange for their identification numbers. The Khans then used the identification numbers to submit the false claims to Medicaid.
Muhammad Rizwan Khan will be sentenced to two and one-third to seven years in prison, Muhammad Usman Kahn faces one to three years in prison, and Farhan Khan will be sentenced to six months in prison with five years’ probation running concurrently. The Khans will also be required to pay $2 million to Medicaid in restitution and will be barred from being a provider in all government-funded health programs, including Medicare and Medicaid.
