Sunday, August 9, 2009

Capper/Patient Recruiter In Medical Fraud Prosecution In Orange County Sentenced To 10 Years State Prison


On August 7, 2009, Sue Nanda, a patient recruiter for Unity Outpatient Surgery Center (Unity) was sentenced on August 7, 2009 to 10 years in state prison in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana. Ms. Nanda had pleaded guilty on February 20, 2009, to 22 felony counts including conspiracy, capping, failing to file tax returns, filing fraudulent tax returns, grand theft, and sentencing enhancements for white collar crime.

The plea and charges arose out of Ms. Nanda recruiting over 170 healthy patients (many from other states) to undergo unnecessary and allegedly dangerous surgeries to fraudulently bill medical insurance companies.

We have posted previously regarding the Unity case. One article related to Dr. Hampton who was sentenced to 16 years (running concurrently with a federal sentence) and referenced Ms. Nanda's guilty plea. See this article for more details regarding the case:


Of the 19 defendants charged in the Unity case, 11 are awaiting trial which is presently scheduled for October 26, 2009, at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

Attorney Commentary: This is a large state case and the sentences in this case for pleas have been lengthy. This is a trend that we can expect to see in health care fraud cases and other fraud cases. The U.S. Attorney General recently stated that health care fraud cases will be "data driven" and thus, we can expect to see more federal and state prosecutions for cases that were not previously prosecuted. Compliance should be the name of the game for those in the health care industry. The risks of having a criminal prosecution for regulatory crimes are too great.

Any questions or comments should be directed to: tgreen@greenassoc.com or 213-233-2260. Tracy Green is a principal at Green and Associates in Los Angeles, California. They focus their practice on the representation of licensed professionals, individuals and businesses in civil, business, administrative and criminal proceedings. They have a specialty in representing licensed health care providers. Their website is: http://www.greenassoc.com/

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