Indian national jailed in US for $1.7 million fraud: Who is he and what are the charges?

Washington: An Indian national who accepted of engineering a multimillion-dollar Medicare fraud in the US has been awarded two years of imprisonment. He was found orchestrating the fraud through a Washington-based diagnostic lab.

The accused, Mohammed Asif (35) was taken in custody on April 10. At the time of his arrest, the accused was trying to board an international flight. While the court ordered Asif to pay $1,174,813 in restitution, he now faces the risk of being deported.

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Earlier, during a hearing in the court, Asif pleaded guilty of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in the country through American Labworks. Delivering the judgement, District Judge James L Robart noted that $1,174,813 fraud was a significant amount of money.

‘The defendant lacks moral character’

“A significant amount of money. It was money that was siphoned out of the Medicare system, which is designed to treat the elderly and the poor… (The defendant) lacks moral character as a knowing participant in the fraud… He is someone the public needs to be protected from,” the judge said as per media reports.

According to the prosecution, Asif and other conspirators in the case billed the Medicare for COVID-19 and other respiratory tests which were not ordered and neither even performed. The prosecution said, “Mr Asif participated in a scheme to steal more than a million dollars from Medicare -- funds that are meant to be used for important medical care.”

He added, “Regrettably, schemes like this one are not unique. Medicare is a constant target of fraud, and the harm to the United States and taxpayers is substantial. We will continue to investigate and prosecute such fraud schemes.”

Victims billed for tests they never underwent

The records show that the lab was formed in October 2021, while it was dissolved in March 2025. The lab’s license as a Medical Test Site expired in December 2023. The agencies had received over 200 complaints between 2024 and 2025. The victims were billed for tests they never underwent. In several cases, bills were submitted under the names of doctors who said they did not have any connection with the lab.