Ravitej Reddy of Pittsburgh sentenced for paying illegal kickbacks related to lab tests

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An Indian-origin resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has been sentenced in federal court to 18 months of imprisonment, and ordered to forfeit $9 million in criminal proceeds and pay more than $77 million in restitution on his convictions for conspiring to pay illegal kickbacks related to laboratory tests.

In an August 14, 2023 press release, United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced that Ravitej Reddy, 56, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William S. Stickman.

Reddy previously pled guilty to three counts of conspiring to commit offenses against the United States and one count of offering and paying kickbacks in connection with a federal health care program.

According to information presented to the court, Reddy used two Pittsburgh-area laboratories he owned and operated in the execution of three illegal kickbacks schemes.

Reddy and others paid kickbacks to marketers in return for the marketers obtaining cheek swabs from Medicare beneficiaries to be used in laboratory testing, the press release said.

Reddy and others also paid kickbacks to ensure that telemedicine physicians provided prescriptions for laboratory testing for the swabs obtained by the marketers. Reddy’s labs then billed for the performance of the tests.

In all, Reddy and others caused a loss to the United States in excess of $60 million, according to the Justice Department.

To report suspected fraud, contact the FBI’s healthcare fraud tipline at WDPAhealthcarefraud@fbi.gov, or the Department of Health and Human Services at 1-800-HHS-TIPS.