News Releases
PROSTHETICS PROVIDER SENTENCED FOR MEDICARE FRAUD
March 07, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
David E. Nahmias, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, and Gregory Jones, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announce that MAZHAR PASHA, 52, of Hampton, Georgia, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Willis B. Hunt, Jr.,for executing a scheme to defraud Medicare. According to Nahmias:
PASHA was sentenced to one year, six months in federal prison. He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $343,473.61 to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. PASHA was ordered to serve three years supervised release.
PASHA formerly operated a business called Pasha Brace and Limb in Jonesboro, Georgia, which engaged in the business of fitting, constructing and selling prosthetic devices. He pled guilty on October 1, 2004, to a criminal information charging him with one count of health care fraud. According to the criminal information, between January 1, 1999, and December 31, 2003, PASHA falsely billed Medicare $343,473.61 for prosthetic devices and supplies that were not medically necessary or were not actually provided to Medicare patients.
United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said of the case, “This case is an example of fraud doing harm to the many Medicare patients who need legitimate durable medical equipment and medical supplies that help them in their daily lives. As taxpayers, they have earned the medical benefits that Medicare and Medicaid provide, and this type of fraud took taxpayer money and put in the pocket of an unscrupulous business.”
This case was investigated by Special Agents of the FBI.
Assistant United States Attorney Joey Burby prosecuted the case.
For further information please contact David E. Nahmias, United States Attorney or F. Gentry Shelnutt, Chief, Criminal Division, through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Attorney's Office, at (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the HomePage for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia is www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan.