A Detroit doctor is facing up to 175 years in prison for health care fraud, money laundering and conspiracy which enabled him to file claims with Medicare amounting to $225 million over six years.
Dr. Farid Fata, a resident of Oakland Township Michigan, faced his victims and their families on his sentencing proceedings on Monday before US District Court Judge Paul Borman in Detroit.
Prosecutors describe Fata as "the most egregious fraudster in the history of this country, measured not by the millions of dollars he stole but by the harm he inflicted on his victims, over 550 identified so far."
They said Fata administered thousands of unnecessary treatments especially to patients who were told they had cancer.
Prosecutors are asking the judge to sentence the accused to 175 years in prison while Fata pleaded that he be sentenced to not more than 25 years.
Last September, Fata pleaded guilty to 13 counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to pay or receive kickbacks and two counts of money laundering.
He owned and operated a cancer treatment clinic, Michigan Hematology Oncology, P.C. (MHO), which had locations in Rochester Hills, Clarkston, Bloomfield Hills, Lapeer, Sterling Heights, Troy and Oak Park, Michigan. He also owned United Diagnostics PLLC, a diagnostic testing facility in Rochester Hills, Michigan.
One of his victims was 62-year-old disabled auto worker Robert Sobieray.
Fata diagnosed Sobieray in 2010 with blood cancer and had him receive chemotherapy and radiation that caused his teeth to fall out and his body to twitch, according to NBC News. He later found out that he had no cancer through a different doctor.
"I have so much hatred towards Fata. His name causes an instant headache. He gets my stomach turning. It is hard to explain...the things I want to do to that guy I couldn't say in public. I hope he gets life," he said.
Fata was arrested and charged in August 2013.
Dr. Soe Maunglay, who worked for Fata and gave information to authorities, said, "We need to uncover and correct the fundamental reasons behind the collective failure of our medical system at all levels which enabled this despicable fraud [to continue] for such a long time."
In his guilty plea, Fata admitted to prescribing and administering chemotherapy, cancer treatments, intravenous iron and other infusion therapies to patients who did not need them to bloat his billings to Medicare and private insurance companies.
Between August 2007 and July 2013, Fata submitted about $225 million in Medicare claims of which $109 million was for chemotherapy and other cancer treatments.
Medicare paid over $91 million to Fata, of which over $48 million was for chemotherapy and other cancer treatments, according to the Department of Justice.
He also admitted to soliciting kickbacks from Guardian Angel Hospice and Guardian Angel Home Health Care in exchange for his referral of patients to the facilities.
Fata also admitted that he used proceeds of the health care fraud at MHO to carry out more health care fraud at United Diagnostics, where he administered unnecessary and expensive PET (positron emission tomography) scans for which he billed a private insurer.
In 2010, Fata told Patty Hester that she had a terminal case of myelodysplastic syndrome and gave her iron infusions and a drug for immunodeficiency diseases.
"He told me I would die from cancer or a secondary infection. There was no evidence that I had MDS. I do not have MDS," she said.
Hester said she now has high-blood pressure and hair loss from the unnecessary treatments.
