Khalid Satary, 54, a fugitive on the FBI's Most Wanted Fraudsters list, was arrested in the Middle East on Monday after more than three years on the run for allegedly orchestrating a $547 million Medicare fraud scheme, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
Alleged Genetic Testing Scheme
Satary was indicted in 2019 in the Eastern District of Louisiana for billing Medicare for expensive and unnecessary genetic tests between 2016 and 2019. Prosecutors allege he conspired with patient recruiters, telemarketing call centers, and telemedicine companies to create deceptive marketing campaigns and pay illegal kickbacks and bribes to obtain cancer genetic test samples, each reimbursed up to $20,000.
In total, Satary is accused of billing Medicare over $547 million and paying millions in illegal kickbacks and bribes to doctors and patient recruiters.
Violation of Bond Conditions
After his indictment, Satary was released on bond with a condition to no longer work in the medical field. However, the DOJ says he continued conspiring with Houston-based laboratories in Texas to submit fraudulent genetic testing claims to Medicare. A federal arrest warrant was issued in 2022 after Satary failed to appear for a court hearing and allegedly fled the country.
When arrested Monday, he was found with a fake Mexican passport under a phony name. Satary was flown to the U.S. and appeared in court in the Eastern District of Virginia on Tuesday.
Charges and FBI Statement
Satary faces charges including conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, health care fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks and bribes, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
“The arrest of Khalid Ahmed Satary and return to the U.S. is the third Most Wanted Fraudster capture from this FBI and our partners in just 5 weeks – continuing the historic run of success for this new initiative,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement. “Satary was indicted in 2019 on charges of Health Care Fraud Conspiracy, allegedly stealing $547 million from 2016-2019 by fraudulently billing Medicare for expensive and medically unnecessary genetic tests, using deceptive marketing campaigns, illegal kickbacks, and bribes.”
Patel added: “This is another subject who exploited a program dedicated to helping our most vulnerable and instead stole for himself. Satary has been on the run since 2022, but we got him thanks to great work and coordination from the interagency and our overseas partners.”
Potential Penalties
Satary faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, 10 years for health care fraud and conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and five years for conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive kickbacks.
