Long Island ambulette operators charged in $35 million Medicaid fraud scheme

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (CN) — Over six years, the owner and manager of a Long Island ambulette company schemed to bill Medicaid for $35 million in transportation services for nonexistent rides to methadone clinics, according to federal prosecutors.

In an indictment unsealed Wednesday, Saad Aziz and Zabed Chowdhury are accused of paying kickbacks to Medicaid beneficiaries so they’d request medical transportation services from Tri-Hamlet Taxi Inc., a company owned by Aziz and managed by Chowdhury, purportedly for necessary methadone treatment.

“In reality, the defendants often did not provide the medical transportation services for which they billed Medicaid, yet, fraudulently submitted millions of dollars in claims for these nonexistent trips,” prosecutors write in charging documents.

Both defendants were filmed making the illicit payments to undercover law enforcement agents, prosecutors say, including still images from video evidence in a memo seeking a significant bail package. Following their arrest last month on a criminal complaint that preceded their indictment, both men were released on respective $1 million bail packages.

They are set to be arraigned next week on charges of healthcare fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., paying healthcare kickbacks and money laundering conspiracy.

Prosecutors say Aziz and Chowdhury used their proceeds to buy investment properties and homes with a total value of about $6 million.

“As alleged, the defendants turned a transportation program intended to provide vulnerable Medicaid beneficiaries with access to critical medical care into a vehicle for personal enrichment,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said in a statement on Thursday. “By paying illegal kickbacks, billing for rides that were never provided and inflating reimbursement claims through false information, they allegedly stole tens of millions of taxpayer dollars."

In addition to using public funds for illusory medical transport, the defendants are accused of systematically inflating their Medicaid reimbursements by providing false pickup and drop-off addresses, allowing them to submit bills for longer, more expensive trips.

“This scheme took advantage of a program meant to help people get to the medical care they rely on. By gaming the system for their own benefit, the defendants didn’t just misuse taxpayer money — they made it harder for people who genuinely need support,” said Harry T. Chavis Jr., special agent in charge of the IRS’s criminal investigation arm.

If convicted, the defendants face up to 20 years in prison.

Attorney Kevin Keating represents Aziz and attorney Evan Sugar represents Chowdhury. Neither defense lawyer immediately returned a request for comment.

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