A New York businessman has admitted to participating in a health care fraud and illegal kickback conspiracy, according to an announcement by Attorney for the United States Vikas Khanna. Mansinh Chaudhari, also known as "Monsi Koova," aged 55 from Illinois, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Michael E. Farbiarz in Newark federal court. He was charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to violate the Federal Anti-Kickback statute.
Court documents reveal that Chaudhari owned and operated a consulting company based in New York. This company purchased information related to prospective Medicare beneficiaries, ensuring Medicare would reimburse COVID-19 test purchases. Chaudhari sold this beneficiary information to medical providers across several states, including New Jersey, Tennessee, Colorado, Connecticut, and Utah. These providers used the information to submit claims for up to eight over-the-counter COVID-19 tests per month that were neither needed nor ordered by beneficiaries.
To hide their activities, Chaudhari and the medical providers entered into sham agreements and issued fraudulent invoices for services like marketing or consulting. Their actions resulted in a loss of more than $5.3 million to Medicare.
The charge of conspiracy to commit health care fraud carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, while conspiracy to violate the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute is punishable by up to five years in prison. Each count may also result in a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. Sentencing is set for April 29, 2025.
Attorney Khanna credited several agencies with leading the investigation: special agents of the FBI under Acting Special Agent in Charge Nelson I. Delgado; Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General under Acting Special Agent in Charge Naomi Gruchacz; U.S. Department of Defense Office of Inspector General's Defense Criminal Investigative Service under Special Agent in Charge Patrick Hegarty; and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General under Special Agent in Charge Christopher F. Algieri.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Specht from the Special Prosecutions Division supervised by the Opioid Abuse Prevention and Enforcement Unit represents the government.
Chaudhari's defense counsel is Paul D’Emilia Esq., based in New York.