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Date: 02-04-2022
Case Style:
Case Number: 3:21-cr-34
Judge: David J. Novak
Court: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (Henrico County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: United States Attorney’s Office
Defendant's Attorney:
Description: Richmond, Virginia criminal defense attorney represented defendant charged with defrauding Virginia Medicaid.
Defendant, Durham, North Carolina, clinical psychologist was indicted for defrauding Virginia Medicaid of at least $544,067.69 by creating false diagnoses and medical records for Medicaid recipients, mostly minors, and falsely representing to Medicaid that he was providing them mental health services.
Dr. Malik Muhammad, Ph.D., 46, obtained identifying information of Medicaid recipients from a co-conspirator and used that information to bill Virginia Medicaid for outpatient psychotherapy that never actually occurred. Muhammad, a licensed clinical psychologist, hired a co-conspirator to write patient medical records as if Muhammad had performed actual therapy and created inapplicable diagnoses—including depression, anxiety, attention deficit disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder—to give the appearance of actual treatment. The mostly minor victims were unaware of the false diagnoses Muhammad was inventing and applying to them. Through this fraud scheme, Muhammad defrauded Virginia Medicaid of at least $544,067.69.
Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Maureen R. Dixon, Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge David J. Novak.
Investigators with the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit provided significant assistance.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Shea Gibbons and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney David Tooker of the Virginia Attorney General’s Office prosecuted the case.
18:1349 AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH 18:982(a)(7) & 21:853(p): CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT HEALTH CARE FRAUD; FORFEITURE ALLEGATION
(1)
18:1028A: AGGRAVATED IDENTITY THEFT
(5)
Outcome: SENTENCE - IMPRISONMENT TWENTY-EIGHT MONTHS CONSECUTIVE; SUPERVISED RELEASE THREE (3) YEARS; FINE NOT IMPOSED, SPECIAL ASSESSMENT, $100.00
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: