Richard Sehl, 57, pleaded guilty last week in Rensselaer County Court for working with Medi Cab Corp. owner and president John Gouzos to steal $650,000 in Medicaid dollars through patient kickbacks and fake billing.
Sehl is also scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 27 for offering a false instrument for filing.
Gouzos, who repaid over $200,000 to Medicaid, is scheduled to be sentenced on the same date to five years of probation and six months in jail for health care fraud.
Gouzos and Sehl were arrested in June after investigators determined that the two submitted fake claims to the program between late 2021 and early 2023.
The men had patients request rides farther than they resided in order to charge more money. At the same time, two shell companies connected to Medi Cab — Jay Auto Care and Hojo Detail Center — were used to launder such funds.
Because of the recent convictions, Medi Cab has been banned from accepting government subsidized funds.
In Orange County, business partners Muhammad Rizwan Khan, Muhammad Usman Khan and Farhan Khan face similar repercussions for Medicaid fraud. The family, which operates Tristate Express NY, Inc., Meditrans NY, Inc. and Empire Trans NY, pleaded guilty on Thursday for stealing $3.8 million in Medicaid funds between 2019 and 2023.
The group had previously pleaded not guilty to charges in connection with the kickback scheme.
“Funds that should have been used to provide health care and services to New Yorkers in need were instead diverted because of fraudulent schemes,” said state Attorney General Letitia James in a statement. “Not only did these individuals steal from Medicaid, they undermined the businesses of honest transportation providers, putting crucial patient services at risk.”
The two cases were investigated by state prosecutors in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the New York State Department of Health, Medical Answering Services, the state Office of the Medicaid Inspector General and multiple law enforcement agencies.
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