A federal jury in the Eastern District of Michigan convicted an Indian national for orchestrating a $2.8 million healthcare fraud and wire fraud conspiracy, and engaging in money laundering, aggravated identity theft, and witness tampering. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Yogesh Pancholi, 43, of Northville, Michigan, owned and operated Shring Home Care Inc. (Shring), a home health company based in Livonia, Michigan. Despite being excluded from billing Medicare, Pancholi purchased Shring using the names, signatures, and personal identifying information of others to conceal his ownership of the company. In a two-month period, Pancholi and his co-conspirators billed and were paid nearly $2.8 million by Medicare for services that were never provided. Pancholi then transferred these funds through bank accounts belonging to shell corporations and eventually into his accounts in India. After being indicted, and on the eve of trial, Pancholi, using a pseudonym, wrote false and malicious emails to various federal government agencies alleging a government witness had committed various crimes and should not be allowed to remain in the United States in an attempt to keep the witness from testifying.
