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News India Times April 17, 2015
By Bhargavi Kulkarni
former Nevada doctor
on April 2 pleaded
guilty to conspiracy to
defraud Medicare,
Medicaid and other
private health insur-
ance companies by inflating and
overcharging for anesthesia serv-
ices. Dr. Dipak Desai, 65, former
owner of several endoscopy clin-
ics, is already serving time in the
Nevada prison system for a state
conviction in the hepatitis out-
break. A jury convicted him in
July 2013 of 27 criminal counts
related to the hepatitis C out-
break, including second-degree
murder in the death of infected
patient Rodolfo Meana, 77.
Desai made the plea before
U.S. District Judge Larry R. Hicks
in Reno to one count of conspir-
acy to commit health care fraud,
one count of health care fraud,
and agreed to the forfeiture of
property of up to approximately
$2.2 million. He is scheduled to
be sentenced on July 9, and faces
a maximum of five years in
prison on the conspiracy count,
10 years in prison on the health
care fraud count, and maximum
fines of $250,000 on each count,
the Las Vegas Review-Journal
reported.
Desai, who has suffered three
strokes since 2007, is serving a
life sentence with the possibility
of parole after 18 years under
medical watch at the Northern
Nevada Correctional Center. Last
year, a U.S. Bureau of Prisons
psychological evaluation found
Desai competent to stand trial
but suffering frommemory and
cognitive impairments. However,
a 2011 state mental evaluation,
however, concluded that Desai
was exaggerating the effects of
his strokes, KSNV News 3 report-
ed.
“Dr. Desai intentionally
defrauded the federal health care
system for his own personal
enrichment,” U.S. Attorney
Bogden said in a press release.
“He has finally taken responsibil-
ity for his conduct.We are hope-
ful this closes a long and sordid
chapter of harm caused to the
people and businesses of
Nevada.”
Tonya Rushing, Desai’s co-
defendant and chief operating
officer at the clinics, pleaded
guilty in July to one count con-
spiracy to commit health care
fraud. She is scheduled to be
sentenced May 4.
In his plea agreement, Desai
acknowledges that between
about January 2005 and
February 2008, he and Rushing
conspired to overcharge
Medicaid, Medicare and private
health care companies at the
Endoscopy Center of Southern
Nevada by overstating the time
taken by nurse anesthetists
spent with patients, a July 10,
2014 press release issued by
Hicks’ office said.
According to the press release,
Desai and Rushing created a
separate company, Healthcare
Business Solutions, owned by
Rushing, to handle the billing for
the anesthesia services. This
company received approximate-
ly nine percent of all money col-
lected for anesthesia services
rendered at the endoscopy cen-
ter.
Desai and Rushing pressured
endoscopy center employees to
schedule and treat as many
patients as possible in a day, and
instructed the nurse anesthetists
to overstate in their records the
amount of time they spent on
each procedure. Desai and
Rushing also instructed the
office staff to rely on the false
anesthesia records when prepar-
ing the claims for reimburse-
ment which were sent to
Medicare, Medicaid and the
insurance companies.
A
Former Nevada Doctor Pleads Guilty to Overcharging for Anesthesia Services
2 Gas Station Clerks Shot Dead in Separate Robbery Attempts
FromNews Dispatches
T
wo Indian-Americans
were shot dead during
apparent robbery
attempts in two separate inci-
dents at gas stations in
Connecticut and Illinois within
24 hours last week, sending
shockwaves among the local
community.
Sanjay Patel, 39, was shot on
April 6 by two gunmen who stole
cash and a box of cigars at a New
Haven, Connecticut gas station,
while Rajesh Madala, 35, was
found dead after robbery in a
Bay View Gardens gas station in
Low Point, Illinois, the same day.
Patel, who worked as a clerk
in the gas station, was shot sev-
eral times and died at the hospi-
tal, NBC Connecticut reported.
He leaves behind wife Bhavana
“Bee” Chavada, who tried for 10
years to get pregnant and is now
six months along with the cou-
ple’s first child. “My heart is
already broken,” Chavada told
NBC Connecticut in an inter-
view April 7.
Family friend Slesha Desai
said Chavada can’t work because
of the burns on her arms and
legs and depended on her hus-
band for financial support.
Chavada was badly burned in a
house explosion in January of
last year, which sent her to the
hospital to receive skin grafts.
Desai said Patel was the only
breadwinner in the family.
While police continue to
search for the two gunmen,
donations of money and baby
clothes are pouring in for
Chavada. “Please
help us raise money
for the two remain-
ing members of this
family who have
lost most of their
family, their home,
and life as they
once knew,” family
friend Chintu
Patel wrote on a GoFundMe
page set up to support the fami-
ly. “100 percent of the funds
raised will be donated to the
Patel’s [sic] family, funeral
expenses and any additional
expenses they will incur during
this time of tragedy.”
According to the Peoria
Journal Star, Madala was killed
by an unnamed white male who
was also killed April 7 after
police tracked him to a remote
area ofWoodford County in just
less than 24 hours. Initial reports
described the suspect as a white
male with a medium build wear-
ing a green coat and
camouflage hat with
an orange design on
the front. He drove up
to the gas station in a
white Dodge Dakota
Sport with the word
“Sport” written on the
passenger side of the
vehicle in dark letters,
according to a press release
issued by theWoodford County
Sheriff’s Department.
Low Point expressed shock at
the news of the homicide and
described Madala – known as
‘Raj’ to customers –- as an ‘awe-
some guy’ who was inviting and
conversational to anyone who
walked into the station, the
Peoria Journal Star reported.
RobynWilliams, a clerk at the
nearby General Store Bayview
told the paper that Madala
always worked the mid-after-
noon to night shift and was well-
liked in the community. The
senseless nature of the robbery
turned homicide astounded her.
“To murder someone in cold
blood like that for what little
money that guy had, it’s not
worth it,”Williams said.
Connecticut, Massachusetts
Entrepreneurs ChargedWith
Insider Trading
By a StaffWriter
A
Connecticut fund man-
ager and a
Massachusetts entre-
preneur were arrested April 2
in connection with their role
in an insider trading scheme
that netted more than $1 mil-
lion in illegal profits. Iftikar
Ahmed of Greenwich,
Connecticut, and Amit
Kanodia of Brookline,
Massachusetts, were charged
with one count of securities
fraud. The charging statute
provides for a sentence of no
greater than 20 years in
prison, five years of super-
vised release, a fine of $5 mil-
lion, a FBI press release said.
According to a Press Trust
of India report, Kanodia, 47, is
an entrepreneur and private
equity investor with a MBA
from the University of
Massachusetts, while Ahmed,
43, graduated from IIT Delhi
and did his MBA from
Harvard and is a general part-
ner at a venture capital firm.
As alleged in the criminal
complaint, prior to April 2013,
Kanodia secretly tipped off his
friend Ahmed and another
friend, about the contemplat-
ed acquisition of Cooper Tire
& Rubber Company by India-
based Apollo Tyre. Kanodia
learned about the possible
acquisition from his wife who
was the general counsel of
Apollo at the time, the FBI
press release said.
In the months leading up
to the public announcement
of the acquisition, both
Ahmed and the associate,
purchased shares and options
in Cooper Tire which trades
on the NewYork Stock
Exchange. On the day of the
announcement, Cooper Tire’s
share price increased 41 per-
cent, and Ahmed and his
associate began selling their
interests in the company for a
combined profit of more than
$ 1 million. It is alleged that
both Ahmed and his associate
paid Kanodia a portion of
their illegal profits.
Apollo had agreed to buy
Cooper Tire and Rubber for
about $ 2.5 billion in 2013, but
the merger was abandoned in
December that year.
Video surveillance of one of the suspects in the fatal shooting of Sanjay Patel.
Sanjay Patel
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