Acting United States Attorney April M. Leon has reported that Samrat Mukherjee, aged 35 and a resident of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has pleaded guilty to making false statements regarding health care matters. The plea was entered before U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles. Mukherjee's conviction could lead to a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a fine reaching $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the crime, whichever is greater, and three years of supervised release.
Mukherjee admitted as part of his guilty plea that he was a licensed paramedic employed by Acadian Ambulance Service, Inc., but he did not attend medical school. Despite this, he falsely presented himself as a licensed medical doctor to colleagues and friends while working there. To support his claims, Mukherjee fabricated a medical degree and residency match letter and even participated in a fake graduation celebration.
His deceit allowed him access to physician privileges at several hospitals where he interacted with patients in intensive care units among other hospital areas. He wore clothing marked with “M.D.” and “Flight Surgeon” insignia and carried badges from local hospitals and Acadian Ambulance identifying him as a physician.
From May 2019 through November 2022, Mukherjee called in prescriptions for himself and others under the guise of being two different doctors with authority to issue these prescriptions. This led pharmacies to file claims for reimbursement with health care benefit programs such as Medicaid and BCBSLA.
In one specific instance on October 3, 2022, Mukherjee wrote a prescription for Ondansetron-ODT tablets for a cancer patient without consulting the patient's oncologist or having the required authority to do so.
The announcement was made by Acting U.S. Attorney April M. Leon along with Supervisory Official Matt Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Jason E. Meadows from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).
The investigation into this case was conducted by HHS-OIG with prosecution led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen L. Craig, Trial Attorney Samantha E. Usher, and Assistant Chief Justin M. Woodard.
The Fraud Section oversees efforts against health care fraud through its Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program which has been active since March 2007 across nine strike forces operating in 27 federal districts charging over 5,400 defendants involved in billing more than $27 billion fraudulently from federal health care programs and private insurers.
More details are available at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.