In October, two medical transportation companies were charged with or indicted for fraud in New York.
The owner of Pearl Transit Corp. (“Pearl”), Jael Watts, was accused of running a sham transportation service that supposedly provided rides for persons with disabilities and seniors in Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, and Suffolk counties. In 2024, the company was awarded a contract with the New York State Department of Transportation that was funded by a grant through the Federal Transit Administration. Under the grant, Pearl was required to submit certain documentation for services provided. Investigators found that Pearl submitted three false invoices totaling almost $1.3 million for services that were never rendered. Watts was also alleged to have created fake time records for drivers who did not work for the company. He was indicted on 10 counts of wire fraud.
Meanwhile, the owner of Angel Medical Transportation (“Angel”), Mohammad Chaudhry, is alleged to have stolen over $1.8 million from New York State’s Medicaid program. He is accused of billing the program for rides that never occurred, overbilling for group rides, and not accurately reporting the destination of rides, all between January 2020 and September 2024. Angel’s office manager, Noah Shook, is also alleged to have paid kickbacks to Medicaid recipients to use Angel’s transportation services. Chaudhry was charged with grand larceny, healthcare fraud, and money laundering, and Shook was charged with money laundering.
All medical transportation providers in New York State should, at a minimum, ensure the proper and accurate billing of services duly provided.
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