By: Najla Alexander
NJ authorities announced that a New Jersey doctor was sentenced today to 26 months in prison for participating in a healthcare fraud scheme to defraud Amtrak.
U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said Muhammad Mirza, 51, of Cedar Grove, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
Judge Arleo imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court, officials stated.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
From April 2017 through June 2022, officials said, Mirza and his conspirators agreed to engage in a scheme to bill the Amtrak health care plan for fraudulent claims for services that either were never provided or were medically unnecessary.
According to officials, they would recruit Amtrak employees to participate in the scheme by paying them to allow the conspirators to use their patient and insurance information to submit false and fraudulent claims.
Mirza and his conspirators submitted false and fraudulent claims that caused Amtrak losses of more than $1.3 million, officials say.
In addition to the prison term, authorities say, Judge Arleo sentenced Mirza to two years of supervised release and ordered restitution of $1.37 million.