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The indictments were unsealed on Long Island at federal court in Central Islip on Tuesday, June 11.
Seven of the eight are from Long Island and the other from New York City:
- Noman Ahmed, age 37, Port Jefferson Station;
- Adnan Arshad, also known as “Eddie,” age 45, Mount Sinai;
- Rehman Diwan, age 24, Hicksville;
- Jessica Hendrickson, age 36, Patchogue;
- Jose Marte, age 33, the Bronx;
- Mohammed Saleem, age 38, Dix Hills;
- Faisal Shamsi, also known as “Jimmy,” age 49, Massapequa;
- Waqas Shamsi, also known as “Ricky," age 44, Massapequa.
All eight have been charged with:
- Conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud,
- Healthcare fraud,
- Conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay health care kickbacks,
- Paying health care kickbacks,
- Money laundering.
They allegedly submitted fraudulent claims to Medicaid for ambulette services to medical appointments that were not performed, or the costs were artificially inflated.
In court documents, it is alleged that from around December 2020 to the present, the defendants gave illegal healthcare kickbacks to Medicaid beneficiaries.
The kickbacks were given so that the beneficiaries would use the defendants' medical transportation services, which often involved transporting the beneficiaries to addiction treatment centers for what was claimed to be necessary methadone treatment.
The defendants generally did not provide the medical transportation services ordered by the Medicaid beneficiaries.
Yet in total, the defendants and their transportation companies – 668 MTK Taxi LLC, All-Star Taxi LLC, Apollo Transportation, Sunrise Taxi LLC, and Transportation Solution NY Corp. d/b/a A1 Transport – fraudulently billed Medicaid millions of dollars for these services throughout the scheme.
At least two claims were submitted to Medicaid for deceased individuals, and some claims were submitted for individuals who were hospitalized or incarcerated.
The defendants also submitted artificially inflated claims to Medicaid.
Although the beneficiaries could have utilized numerous addiction treatment centers on Long Island, the defendants instructed them to order rides to addiction treatment centers in New York City and list false addresses so they could obtain higher reimbursement rates from Medicaid for longer rides.
The transportation companies owned or operated by the defendants billed Medicaid over $16 million for trips to just three addiction treatment centers in New York City.
Adnan Arshad and Mohammed Saleem used the illicit proceeds of the schemes to purchase approximately 15 additional transport vehicles for the schemes and to purchase multimillion-dollar homes and luxury vehicles.
“As alleged, the defendants abused the trust placed in them by Medicaid by falsely and brazenly treating this essential program like a piggy bank for their enrichment,” stated the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace. “Their transportation scam ended today with law enforcement providing the defendants a free ride to the courthouse to face serious criminal charges."
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