Co-Owner of N.J. Transportation Company Sentenced to Prison for $80,000 Medicaid Fraud

New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey announced that the co-owner of a Passaic County transportation company has been sentenced to state prison for submitting more than $82,000 in fraudulent and inflated billings to the Medicaid program. The Medicaid Program, funded by the state and federal governments, provides health care services and prescription drugs to persons who may not otherwise be able to afford medical services and medicines.

According to Vaughn McKoy, director, Division of Criminal Justice and Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden Brown, Imad Mahgoub Elbashir, 43, of Passaic County, was sentenced by Passaic County Superior Court Judge Ronald Marmo to three years in state prison and ordered to pay $103,000 in restitution and penalties after pleading guilty to participating in the fraudulent scheme. Additionally, Elbashir was debarred from participating in the Medicaid Program for five years. Judge Marmo imposed sentence on Feb. 6.

Gooden Brown noted that Elbashir’s co defendant, Imadelin A. Khair, 44, of Paterson, was sentenced in September by Judge Marmo to a three year term in state prison and ordered to pay $103,000 in restitution. Elbashir and Khair were the co-owners of I&I Invalid Coach, located at 85 Central Ave. in Clifton, Passaic County.

Gooden Brown said that Elbashir and Khair were indicted by a State Grand Jury on Dec. 6, 2000 on charges of Health Care Claims Fraud. The defendants plead guilty to the charges on May 22, 2003. In pleading guilty, Elbashir and Khair reportedly admitted that they defrauded the Medicaid program out of $82,122 by inflating mileage charges for transportation services provided to Medicaid recipients who required invalid coach transportation services.