Two Defendants Charged with Multi-Million Dollar Health Care Fraud Scheme

Defendants Allegedly Billed Medicaid for Ambulette Services to Medical Appointments That Were Not Performed or Were Induced by Kickbacks An indictment was filed yesterday in federal court in Central Islip charging Saad Aziz and Zabed Chowdhury, also known as “Jared,” with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay health care kickbacks, paying health care kickbacks, and money laundering conspiracy. The defendants allegedly offered and paid health care kickbacks and submitted fraudulent claims to Medicaid for ambulette services to medical appointments that were not performed, or the costs were artificially inflated. The defendants were previously charged by complaint and will be arraigned at a later date. As set forth in court filings, the defendants owned and operated Tri-Hamlet Taxi Inc. From approximately January 2019 to October 2025, the defendants paid illegal health care kickbacks to Medicaid beneficiaries to induce them to request medical transportation services from Tri-Hamlet Taxi, primarily for purported necessary methadone treatment. In reality, the defendants often did not provide the medical transportation services for which they billed Medicaid, yet, fraudulently submitted millions of dollars in claims for these nonexistent trips. The defendants also systematically inflated their Medicaid reimbursements. Although numerous addiction treatment centers on Long Island were available to beneficiaries, the defendants directed beneficiaries to request transportation to addiction treatment centers in New York City and to provide false pickup or drop-off addresses so they could bill Medicaid for longer, more expensive trips. Through this scheme, the defendants submitted more than $18 million in claims for rides exceeding 75 miles and, overall, fraudulently billed Medicaid more than $35 million. The defendants used the illicit proceeds of the scheme to, among other things, fund their lifestyles and purchase multiple investment properties and homes with a combined value of approximately $6 million. If convicted of the charges, the defendants each face up to 20 years in prison, and restitution and forfeiture of at least $35 million, including several real properties and 15 bank accounts.