Convicted lab owner Minal Patel, ordered to forfeit over $187 million in health care fraud proceeds

Exhibit from court record. Provided by Justice Department. PHOTO Justice.gov
MIAMI – On Sept. 22, U.S. District Court Judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz, in Miami, ordered the defendant, Minal Patel, to forfeit over $187 million in health care fraud proceeds including over $30 million seized from personal and corporate bank accounts, a 2018 Red Ferrari Spider, a 2019 Land Rover Range Rover, and real property. Minal Patel, 44, of Atlanta, owned LabSolutions LLC (LabSolutions), a lab enrolled with Medicare that performed sophisticated genetic tests. Patel, who has already been convicted, is accused of having conspired with patient brokers, telemedicine companies, and call centers to target Medicare beneficiaries with telemarketing calls falsely stating that Medicare covered expensive cancer genetic tests, the Justice Department press release of October 3, 2023, said. After the Medicare beneficiaries agreed to take a test, Patel paid kickbacks and bribes to patient brokers to obtain signed doctors’ orders authorizing the tests from telemedicine companies. To conceal the kickbacks and bribes, Patel required patient brokers to sign sham contracts that falsely stated that the brokers were performing legitimate advertising services for LabSolutions, when the brokers were deceptively marketing to Medicare beneficiaries and paying kickbacks and bribes to telemedicine companies for genetic testing prescriptions. Patel knew the telemedicine doctors robo-signed prescriptions for expensive genetic testing even though they were not treating the beneficiaries, often did not even speak with them, and made no evaluation of medical necessity, the Justice Department press release noted.From July 2016 through August 2019, LabSolutions submitted more than $463 million in claims to Medicare, including for thousands of medically unnecessary genetic tests, of which Medicare paid over $187 million. “Patel enriched himself with the fruits of his crimes, including with the purchase of luxury items like a 2018 Red Ferrari Spider,” the press release said. Convicted lab owner Minal Patel, ordered to forfeit over $187 million in health care fraud proceeds
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Mexico`s ex-governor shot dead in restaurant’s toilet


Aristoteles Sandoval, the former governor of Mexico’s troubled western state of Jalisco was shot dead in a restaurant bathroom in the popular beach resort of Puerto Vallarta on Friday.

State attorney general Gerardo Octavio Solis said that Sandoval was dining with four others when at around 1:40 am he got up from the table and went to the toilet, where the killer shot him in the back. 

Although only one gunman fired at Sandoval, he may have been accompanied by as many as nine accomplices who waited outside the restaurant, Solis said. 

Meanwhile, The Guardian reported that Sandoval did not die immediately, but when his bodyguards tried to evacuate him from the restaurant, their escape was blocked by more gunmen in the street outside, who opened fire, seriously injuring one of the bodyguards. The former governor died soon afterwards at a local hospital. 

According to officials, Sandoval had 15 police bodyguards assigned to him as well as bulletproof vehicles. Two of the bodyguards were present but were outside the restaurant when the attack took place. 

Solis said that staff at the restaurant cleaned the crime scene, removing blood and bullet casings, and erasing video of the attack. “There are no clues - they practically swept the place clean,” Solis told Televisa. He said eight to 10 suspects were involved in the attack but did not indicate who was responsible.

Jalisco is the heartland of one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal gangs, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The gang controls much of the state since it rose to power during the former governor’s term from 2013 to 2018. Mexico has been marred by gang violence for years. More than 34,500 murders were reported last year, but the country already set a new record as during the first six months of 2020 there were more than 17,400 murders - a 1.7 percent increase compared with the same period last year. - Aljazeera, The Guardian Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.com
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Gunmen attack in Naigeria school, hundreds missing


Hundreds of students feared missing after unidentified gunmen attacked a secondary school in north-western Nigeria on Friday evening.

No student was injured in the attack, said authority.

Witnesses said that the attackers targeted the Government Science Secondary School - where more than 800 students are said to reside - in Katsina state on Friday evening.

On Saturday, the military said it had located the gunmen's hideout in a forest and exchanged gunfire with them.

The outcome was unclear but officials said there were no reports of students being injured. However, witnesses said they saw a number of students being taken away by the gunmen.

In a statement on Saturday, police said that during an exchange of fire, some of the gunmen were forced to retreat. Students were able to scale the fence of the school and run to safety, they said.About 200 students who had fled - and were initially deemed missing - later returned. One police officer was taken to hospital after being shot and wounded, police said. Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.com/
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