Owner of Essex County-Based Medical Transportation Companies Pleads Guilty to Health Care Fraud

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Waqas Nauman, age 37, of Queensbury, New York, pled guilty today to defrauding Medicaid.

The announcement was made by:

    United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith;

    New York State Police Superintendent Keith M. Corlett;

    James N. Hendricks, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI);

    New York State Inspector General Letizia Tagliafierro; and

    Rensselaer County District Attorney Mary Pat Donnelly.

Today’s plea is the result of a state and federal investigation into Medicaid fraud committed by the owners and operators of medical transportation companies based in Essex County.

Nauman admitted to fraudulent Medicaid billing practices connected to two medical transportation companies he owned, Green Mountain Medical Transportation Inc. and Four Way Taxi, Inc.  The other owner of these companies, Khurram Gondal, age 39, of Ticonderoga, New York, pled guilty to health care fraud on July 9, 2019.  They have each admitted that between 2015 and May 2018, they fraudulently billed Medicaid for medical transportation trips where Medicaid beneficiaries drove themselves to their own medical appointments.

Nauman and Gondal each face up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and a term of post-imprisonment supervised release of up to 3 years, when they are sentenced by Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy.  A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.  Nauman has agreed to pay $55,000 in restitution, and Gondal has agreed to pay an additional $60,000 in restitution.

The federal charges were investigated by the FBI and the New York State Police’s Special Investigations Unit in Albany, and are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett.

Parallel state charges are being investigated by the New York State Police’s Special Investigations Unit, as well as the Office of the New York State Inspector General, and are being prosecuted by Rensselaer County Chief Assistant District Attorney Matthew Hauf as Special Prosecutor.

Several additional agencies assisted in this investigation, including the Essex County District Attorney’s Office; New York State Police-Troop B; the Office of the New York State Comptroller, Division of Investigations; New York State Attorney General’s Office, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU); Essex County Sheriff’s Office; Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS-OIG); and the New York State Department of Labor.