Indian national from Michigan sentenced for nearly $2.8M Medicare fraud

An Indian national was sentenced January 30, 2024, to nine years in prison for orchestrating a nearly $2.8 million health care fraud and wire fraud conspiracy and engaging in money laundering, aggravated identity theft, and witness tampering.

A press release from the US Department of Justice quotes court documents and evidence presented at trial, says, Yogesh K. Pancholi, 43, of Northville, Michigan, owned and operated Shring Home Care Inc. (Shring), a home health company based in Livonia, Michigan.

Despite being excluded from billing Medicare, Pancholi purchased Shring using the names, signatures, and personal identifying information of others to conceal his ownership of the company.

In a two-month period, Pancholi and his co-conspirators billed and were paid nearly $2.8 million by Medicare for services that were never provided. Pancholi then transferred these funds through bank accounts belonging to shell corporations and eventually into his accounts in India.

After being indicted, and on the eve of trial, Pancholi, using a pseudonym, wrote false and malicious emails to various federal government agencies alleging a government witness had committed various crimes and should not be allowed to remain in the United States in an attempt to keep the witness from testifying.

In September 2023, a federal jury in the Eastern District of Michigan convicted Pancholi of conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud, two substantive counts of health care fraud, two counts of money laundering, two counts of aggravated identity theft, and one count of witness tampering.

The FBI Detroit Field Office and Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Shankar Ramamurthy and Andres Almendarez of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case.