A federal grand jury in Detroit has indicted two executives of a New York medical lab for defrauding $500 million from Medicaid, Medicare and other health insurance, officials said.
Cemhan “Jimmy” Biricik, 46, of Boca Raton, Fla., and Dr. Martin Perlin, 74, of Fairfield, Conn., have been charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and more than 50 counts of health care fraud, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Jerome Gorgon Jr. said.
Biricik is CEO of Fast Lab Technologies LLC, and Perlin is the company’s medical director, authorities said. Both defendants were arrested on Thursday.
If convicted, they face up to 10 years in prison for the conspiracy to commit health care fraud charge and up to 10 years for each count of health care fraud.
Court records did not list attorneys for Biricik and Perlin on Friday.
Federal prosecutors allege Fast Lab offered free COVID-19 tests for home delivery on a website during the pandemic but never rendered any services.
Consumers who logged on to the website to order the tests were asked for their insurance information, according to the indictment. Fast Lab used the information to fraudulently bill Medicare, Medicaid, TRICAR and other health insurance providers for both rapid and lab tests on multiple dates for each consumer, the filing said.
Officials said the company claimed the tests would be collected and overseen by medical professionals, and samples would be analyzed in a lab, but it would bill insurance plans even before test kits were sent to consumers. They said the returned samples from the kits were often not opened or tested.
Biricik allegedly would repeatedly bill customers’ insurance plans at regular intervals for additional tests without consumers’ knowledge or consent, according to the indictment. Furthermore, the additional tests were never performed, officials said.
As Fast Lab’s medical director, Perlin was responsible for ordering the majority of the tests, Gorgon said. He was the ordering physician for the tests, despite not having a treating relationship with the consumers who ordered them.
Investigators said Biricik billed insurance plans more than $500 million in claims and was paid more than $50 million.
Officials for Fast Lab did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
Biricik and Perlin are the latest to be accused of Medicaid or Medicare fraud in Michigan.
In June, a Macomb County woman was charged with Medicaid fraud for allegedly submitting false claims for mileage reimbursement for medical appointments.
In March, a doctor who operates a Shelby Township-based chain of vein and cosmetic centers was accused a second time by the federal government of falsely billing for various vein-treatment services.
And in November, a Wayne County pharmacist and his brother were convicted of health care and wire fraud for billing Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan for prescription medications they did not dispense at pharmacies they owned or operated.
cramirez@detroitnews.com
@CharlesERamirez
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