Minal Patel, an Indian-origin laboratory owner who owned LabSolutions LLC has been sentenced on Friday to 27 years in jail from the US state of Georgia was sentenced for his involvement in a US$463 million genetic testing scam spanning over three years to defraud Medicare.According to the sources, Patel has been sentenced on Friday for his role in the scheme to defraud Medicare by submitting over US$463 million in genetic and other laboratory tests that patients did not even need. Notably, all of them were procured through the payment of kickbacks and bribes.The Department of Justice on Friday informed that the 44-year-old plotted the conspiracy with patient brokers, telemedicine companies and call centres to target Medicare beneficiaries, who called them up and stated their package covered the expensive cancer genetic tests.Patel who personally received US$21 million from Medicare in connection with the fraud, has also obtained US$463 million through LabSolutions from July 2016 till August 2019. This amount also includes US$187 million for the unnecessary genetic test.Talking about the case, Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri of the FBI Miami Field Office said, “Patel bilked hundreds of millions of dollars from Medicare through a complex testing fraud scheme. He is now paying the price for this crime.”
