$470,992 in kickbacks. Texas doctor and wife charged in fraud with KY connection.
A Texas doctor took at least $470,992 in kickbacks to refer urine drug test samples to laboratories owned by a Texas businessman, including one in Lexington, a federal grand jury has charged.
The grand jury indicted Ghyasuddin Syed and his wife, Shazana Behum, on a charge of conspiring to commit an offense against the U.S.
The scheme started in 2014, when Timothy Alexander, Uday Shah and Syed allegedly set up a deal for Shah to bribe Syed to refer business to Shah’s drug-testing labs, according to court records.
Syed worked at Southeast Texas Institute-Pain Management in Baytown, in the Houston area. His wife helped him manage a commercial property called Baytown Primary Medical Tower.
Shah owned Pinnacle Laboratories LLC in Lexington, as well as labs in Houston; Gallipolis, Ohio; and Las Vegas, Nevada, according to the indictment.
Alexander worked for Shah to market his lab services to doctors.
All the people involved in the alleged scheme live in Texas, but the case was brought in Kentucky because the lab in Lexington was involved.
Alexander pleaded guilty in a related case, admitting he helped deliver kickbacks to Syed between November 2014 and August 2017.
Shah also has pleaded guilty to making the payments. Some were disguised as rent to Syed, his wife and a company Syed controlled, according to court documents.
When federal authorities went to talk to Syed in June 2017, he had an employee put some lab equipment in an office that was supposedly rented to Shah to make it seem like the lease was legitimate, the indictment said.
Shah billed Medicare and Medicaid for analyzing the samples Syed sent to his labs.
A former employee of Shah’s lab in Lexington alleged in a separate civil case that the lab billed public health programs for tests that were unnecessary.
Five years in prison would be the maximum penalty against Syed and his wife if they are convicted.
Shah and Alexander have not been sentenced. They also face a maximum of five years in prison.
