U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced the sentencing of Arkan Fadhel, a 30-year-old business owner from Buffalo, NY, for conspiracy to commit health care fraud. U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo sentenced Fadhel to three years of supervised release, including 12 months of home incarceration. Additionally, Fadhel is required to perform 400 hours of community service, forfeit $781,186.80, and pay $250,000 in restitution.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Franz M. Wright and Mary Clare Kane reported that Fadhel owns Queen City Transportation, Inc., which has been providing non-emergency Medicaid transportation since August 2018. The company primarily transported beneficiaries to methadone clinics. Before this venture, Fadhel worked as a driver for Great Lakes Transportation.
Between August 6, 2018, and December 31, 2020, Fadhel submitted false attestation records to Medical Answering Service. These records falsely claimed that rides were provided when they were not and billed group rides as separate individual rides. This fraudulent activity resulted in a loss exceeding $250,000 to Medicaid.
The investigation was conducted by the Western New York Health Care Fraud Task Force with participation from the Federal Bureau of Investigation under Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Miraglia; the New York State Department of Financial Services led by Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris; the New York State Police directed by Major Amie Feroleto; and Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General under Special Agent-in-Charge Naomi Gruchacz.