By admin 
YUMA, AZ (AZFamily) — A former Yuma doctor learned his punishment Friday after he defrauded the government of $36.5 million, as prosecutors said he treated the state’s Medicaid system “as his personal bank account.”
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Irfan Fazil was sentenced to seven 1/2 years in prison followed by seven years of probation after pleading guilty to fraudulent schemes and artifices, illegal control of an enterprise, theft and illegal procurement of a dangerous drug.
Seized assets detailed
Fazil will forfeit all his assets, which include cars, multiple private jets, jewelry, luxury handbags, gold bars and more that he bought by stealing from the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). He must also repay the stolen money and forfeit his doctor’s license.
Between July and Dec. 31 of last year, Fazil used three businesses, Bio Family Clinic, Yuma Mobile X-ray and Yuma Kidney & Dialysis to bill AHCCCS for tens of thousands of radiology procedures and medical treatments that did not happen.
He collected $36.5 million in AHCCCS payments, compared to $4.7 million over the preceding two 1/2 years, a 671% increase in paid claims, prosecutors said.
Patient noticed billing discrepancies
The overcharging involved 27 patients, including one billed for more than 1,700 X-rays in six months. Prosecutors said it’s “a physically impossible number that would have caused serious harm from radiation exposure.”
Kara Carson was a patient of Fazil’s, along with her father, for about 15 years.
Carson said she first suspected fraud after her insurance company called and asked whether she was still in a wheelchair and still had tubes in her throat.
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“As you can clearly see, there is no tube in my throat; I never had one. I am not in a wheelchair. I very much can walk just fine, and I have MS, is what I’ve been told. That was all news to me. I literally asked them three times, ‘You sure you have the right person?’” Carson said.
“I told my doctor about it, and he was like, ‘I didn’t put that in your file,’” Carson said.
A grand jury indicted Fazil on six felony counts on June 8, and Fazil agreed to a plea deal on Sept. 4.
“Dr. Fazil abused his position as a physician to steal more than $36 million from a taxpayer-funded program that exists to provide health care to Arizona’s most vulnerable residents,” Attorney General Kris Mayes said in an emailed statement. “He billed for thousands of X-rays and other medical treatments that could not possibly have been performed and treated AHCCCS as his personal bank account. My office will continue to aggressively prosecute fraud in government programs to protect tax dollars.”
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