[CRIME BEAT]

3 Indians sentenced to prison for smuggling drugs into US

Three smugglers from India are among a group of five busted in what has been dubbed 'Operation Liquid Dragon', one of the biggest ephedrine rings operated out of the US by a Mexican drug cartel.

The arrests shut down a pipeline that moved the precursor chemical from India to the US to Mexico, much of it in liquid form and labeled "green tea extract", according to Oregonlive.com.

Government prosecutors estimate the shipments helped the cartel put between $20 million and $38 million of meth on the street -- most of it in the US. Most of the money was traced to Antonio Gonzalez, a US customs broker with homes on both sides of the border. Agents found that much of the money flowed out of Gonzalez's accounts to banks in Oregon and India.

Court records show that more than $5 million in wire transfers - - along with $2.6 million in cash - - landed in a Wells Fargo account for Spring Dragon Sourcing, a nutritional company owned by Forest Grove entrepreneur Verlyn Craig Payton.

He transferred $7.2 million to five businesses in India, primarily Nutramed Biotech, owned by Subhash Naithani of Noida, India.

Arrested at a Las Vegas trade show in November 2009 in a sting operation, all five men pleaded guilty in exchange for reduced punishment.

US District Judge Anna J. Brown in Portland, Oregon Thursday sentenced 40-year-old ephedrine broker Naithani to 4- 1/2 years in prison. The others were sentenced earlier this year.

Sachin Sharma, 35 also got 4 1/2 years in prison. Manoj Kovummal got a four-year term. The Indian businessmen will be deported after serving their sentences.

19 Indians indicted for $60 mn medical fraud in US

US Federal prosecutors have charged 26 people, including 19 Indians, with participating in a scheme to defraud government Medicare and Medicaid services for the elderly of nearly $60 million in unwarranted prescriptions.

An indictment unsealed in Detroit accuses Babubhai 'Bob' Patel, 49, a Canton Township pharmacist, of using his ownership in more than 20 Michigan pharmacies to facilitate the fraud, according to Detroit News.

Prosecutors allege that Patel used kickbacks and other inducements to convince physicians to write prescriptions that were filled at his pharmacies 'without regard to the medical necessity of those prescriptions and services'.

Since 2006, prosecutors allege that Patel Pharmacies wrongly billed Medicare for more than $37.7 million in prescriptions and Medicaid another $20.8 million.

'Health care fraud steals funds from programs designed to benefit patients, and we all pay for it,' US Attorney Barbara McQuade said in a statement.

In addition to the pharmacists and doctors, those charged include a psychologist, an accountant and several business associates from the area.

According to prosecutors, Patel allegedly also used recruiters to find patients who, in exchange for kickbacks, would allow the pharmacies to bill their insurance for drugs and other services.

The pharmacies were in Detroit, Dearborn, Southfield, Warren, Taylor, Berkley, Pontiac, Troy, Hazel Park, Oak Park, Waterford, Livonia, Commerce Township, Roseville, Bay City, Saginaw and Kalamazoo.

All of the defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and 23 of the 26 were charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

Indian-origin doctor charged with sexually abusing girls

An Indian-origin pediatrician has been charged with sexually abusing girls, some as young as 11, and compiling notes on his computer on how to molest them, a media report has said. 53- year-old Rakesh Punn drugged his victims with sedatives and covered their eyes with gauze or a blindfold during the assaults, according to a 60-count indictment filed in a US court, the New York Post reported in July.

The New York-based doctor allegedly told the girls they were undergoing medically necessary examinations.

Punn, who also videotaped or photographed some of his naked victims, wrote about the girls on his computer, along with citations from the Kama Sutra, according to the investigators. Punn, who was arrested in July 2010 on preliminary charges of videotaping patients, pleaded not guilty. He faces jail term up to seven years if found guilty.

His previous bail of $ 3.5 million was raised to $10 million bond or $ 5 million cash. Punn's lawyer said his client cannot post bail because prosecutors have frozen his client's assets.

Prosecutors said that they fear he would flee since his wife is in India.

The charges against him include 'promoting a sexual performance by a child', 'possession of a sexual performance by a child', 'possession of a forged instrument', and 'unlawful surveillance'.

Nassau county District Attorney Kathleen Rice said that in 2005, Punn had footage of at least five young girls in his office.

The abuse began in 2007, according to investigators.

Subhash Naithani Rakesh Punn

Atlanta radiologist found guilty of fraud

A41-year-old Atlanta radiologist has been found guilty in federal court of fraud charges. The U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of Georgia said July 7 that Dr. Rajashakher P. Reddy was found guilty of 20 counts of wire fraud, five counts of mail fraud, four counts of health care fraud, and one count of obstruction of justice. He was acquitted of five counts of wire fraud.

Reddy ran Reddy Solutions Inc., which provided services to hospitals that do not have full-time radiology coverage.

“He produced tens of thousands of reports claiming to include his medical findings and diagnoses based on radiology studies that had been performed, when in fact all those interpretations had been performed by non-qualified medical assistants,” United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said, according to a report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

From May 2007 through January 2008, Reddy signed and submitted thousands of reports without even reviewing many of the X-rays, mammograms, CT scans and other films, according to evidence presented during the trial. He sometimes had employees sign reports for him using his electronic password, authorities said.

- [BY HEMA FERNANDO]