[DM] An Arizona doctor will spend nearly eight years behind bars for a massive healthcare fraud scheme that saw his business rake in $36.5 million in just six months.
Dr Irfan Fazil, 54, was accused of being the mastermind behind a multimillion dollar scheme involving bogus treatments, so called ‘phantom billing’ and even siphoning stolen cash overseas to Dubai and Pakistan.
He was indicted in June on a sweeping list of felony charges, including fraud, theft, conspiracy and drug offenses, before admitting his guilt just months later.
Last week, Fazil, who had twice been voted a top kidney doctor, was sentenced in Yuma County Superior Court to seven and a half years in prison, according to Arizona's state attorney general.
Attorney General Kris Mayes also revealed that he will serve seven years of probation after his release for the scheme targeting the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS).
'Dr Fazil abused his position as a physician to steal more than $36 million from a taxpayer funded program that exists to provide health care to Arizona's most vulnerable residents,' Mayes said.
More details have since been released about Fazil’s shocking scheme, involving a doctor who, along with his wife, once lived a life of luxury through their glittering medical empire.
The couple starred in their own YouTube health show, published a glossy charity magazine and amassed private planes and luxury cars as Fazil built a reputation as a respected healthcare professional.
But behind the scenes, Mayes said he used three entities, Bio Family Clinic Inc, Yuma Mobile X-Ray and Yuma Kidney and Dialysis, to bill AHCCCS tens of thousands of dollars for radiology services between July 1 and December 31.
In less than a year, his businesses collected more than $36 million from the state’s Medicaid program by billing for X-rays, ECGs, CT scans, ultrasounds and other medical treatments.
Two and a half years earlier, the doctor had pulled in only $4.7 million, with the amount paid on their claims later soaring by nearly 671 percent, the office said.
A closer look at the 27 patients with the highest billing volumes revealed that one patient’s account had been billed for hundreds of radiology services, including more than 1,700 X-rays in just months.
The attorney general’s office described the staggering figure as a ‘physically impossible number that would have caused serious harm from radiation exposure.’
'He billed for thousands of X-rays and other medical treatments that could not possibly have been performed, and treated by AHCCCS as his personal bank account,' Mayes said in the press release.
Kara Carson, who was a patient of Fazil’s alongside her father for around 15 years, said she first suspected fraud when her insurance company called to ask whether she was still in a wheelchair and still had tubes in her throat.
'As you can clearly see, there is no tube in my throat. I never had one. I am not in a wheelchair. I very much can walk just fine, and I have MS, is what I’ve been told. That was all news to me,' she told AZFamily.
At his October 2 sentencing, Fazil’s punishment went beyond years behind bars, with a judge also ordering him to forfeit all of his assets.
Among them are real estate, medical facilities, vehicles, multiple aircraft, jewelry, luxury handbags, US currency, cryptocurrency and gold bars, according to the attorney general.
Born, raised and educated in Pakistan, Fazil later became a naturalized US citizen while maintaining close personal ties to his homeland and the glitzy Gulf emirate of Dubai, according to evidence presented at a June bond hearing.
Prosecutors said his wife owns an operating clinic in Dubai, while Fazil’s brother was previously deported from the US to Pakistan. Bank records allegedly showed roughly $1 million flowing from Fazil’s accounts to Dubai and Pakistan.
His wife, who helped run their flagship Bio Family Clinic along with two other suspect medical centers in Yuma and a clinic in Dubai, was never formally charged.
Fazil also reportedly crossed the US Mexico border on foot during his travels and frequently used his private fleet of small aircraft to get around.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), his personal pilot and other close associates have alleged ties to Mexican drug cartels.
Medical staff who once worked for the disgraced doctor previously told the Daily Mail they lost paychecks, scrambled to find new jobs and suffered lasting damage to their professional reputations.
One former staffer said colleagues suddenly lost both wages and access to their 401(k) retirement savings.
‘They got greedy and got busted before he could get out of Dodge,’ a source said. ‘He will probably not see the light of day, and he will probably serve time for it.’
As part of the plea deal, Fazil agreed to surrender his medical license and pay over $36 million in restitution to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System.
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