FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. – A doctor, a patient recruiter, and an agency owner from Oakland County, as well as an office manager from Dearborn, have been charged in an $11 million psychotherapy fraud scheme.
Officials said the investigation centered around Centre HRW, a psychotherapy agency in Farmington Hills. The agency is owned and operated by Mohamed Kazkaz, 54, of Farmington Hills, according to authorities.
Kazkaz bribed patient recruiter Ziad Khalel, 52, of Rochester Hills, to refer Medicare beneficiaries to Centre HRW for psychotherapy services, officials said. Those patients didn’t actually need the treatment, and they never received it, according to court records.
Khalel tricked patients into filling out blank Centre HRW sign-in sheets so that Kazkaz could submit claims to Medicare for psychotherapy services that were never provided, authorities said.
Gamela Ali, 33, of Dearborn, was the office manager of Centre CRW. Ali’s role was to figure out when patients had real medical appointments with other doctors and make sure Kazkaz didn’t submit claims for fake psychotherapy treatments on those dates.
Dr. Mustafa Hares, 76, of West Bloomfield, and Geraldine Letman, MSW, 70, of Phoenix, Arizona, completed charts claiming they had seen the patients, even though the psychotherapy appointments never happened, officials said.
Centre HRW billed Medicare for more than $11 million in fraudulent claims, and more than $5.3 million in payments were approved.
“The payment of kickbacks to induce referrals for medical services in federal health care programs, as well as billing for services not rendered, can undermine the trust we place in our nation’s providers and results in costly reductions to our federal health care programs,” said Mario Pinto, special agent in charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.
Kazkaz, Khalel, Ali, Hares, and Letman have been charged in a second superseding indictment for their roles in the health care fraud scheme. Kazkaz and Khalel were originally charged in this case on Jan. 11, and the other three were added on Thursday, May 4.
Kazkaz is also charged with six counts of money laundering. One of those charges stems from a $1.4 million transfer to a national restaurant chain.
“My office is committed to prosecuting any individual, especially medical professionals, who exploits Medicare,” United States Attorney Dawn Ison said.
