The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced on August 21 that Niranjan Mittal, a Brooklyn-based cardiologist, was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison. Mittal pleaded guilty to violating the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) in connection with a fraudulent scheme that lasted roughly seven years and resulted in over $40 million of payments from insurers to Mittal’s practice.
From 2016 to 2023, Mittal operated a clinic whose patient base consisted of primarily low-income individuals insured by federal healthcare programs. During this period, Mittal paid “rent” payments to other physicians under fake “leases” for office space when, in reality, the payments were made to induce these physicians to refer patients to Mittal’s clinic for medically unnecessary cardiovascular tests and office visits. These types of leases (or, sometimes, license agreements) are frequent targets of regulatory action under the AKS.
The tests and office visits allowed Mittal to generate documentation that would justify subjecting these patients to medically unnecessary peripheral vascular interventional procedures (surgical procedures intended for clearing supposed blockages in the patients’ legs). In addition, Mittal and his staff would fabricate patient records regarding patients’ alleged symptoms to support the need for the tests and procedures. Some patients underwent 10 or more of these medically unnecessary surgical procedures over the course of several years.
In addition to the prison sentence, Mittal was ordered to forfeit the proceeds related to his scheme and sentenced to two years of supervised release.
