March 3, 2021
The CEO of a group of medical providers in Michigan and Ohio has been sentenced to
15 years in prison and ordered to pay over
$51 million in restitution to Medicare, as well as forfeit over
$11.5 million in cash along with multiple properties and a Detroit Pistons season ticket membership, following a trial that found him guilty for his role in an extensive fraud scheme against Medicare.
Mashiyat Rashid, the CEO of
Tri-County Wellness Group, allegedly instituted a corporate policy that forced patients—many of whom were addicted to opioids and recruited from homeless shelters and soup kitchens—to submit to medically unnecessary but highly reimbursed back injections in exchange for prescriptions to medically unnecessary opioids. To implement the policy, Rashid made a point to hire physicians who were willing to put profit over patient care, further incentivizing them by offering to split reimbursements with them. Yet according to trial testimony, many of the patients did not want, need, or benefit from the painful back injections, which left some of them suffering from adverse conditions, including open holes in their back. Rashid is the second defendant to be sentenced in this case; twenty-one other defendants, including two physicians, have been convicted so far.
DOJ