The doctor can't see you now

dr. Ameet goyal, greenwich, fills out medicare forms on behalf of patient

Well, you can please some of the people, all the time

But not all of the people, all of the time. Eye surgeon/ophthalmologist given an 8-year time out by the feds

A Rye, New York [and Greenwich] Ophthalmologist who pled guilty in September 2021 to a healthcare fraud scheme and defrauding a Small Business Administration program during the pandemic was sentenced this week.

Ameet Goyal was charged with perpetrating a seven-year healthcare fraud scheme by falsely billing for millions of dollars of procedures he did not perform, and also to fraudulently obtaining two Government-guaranteed loans intended to help small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic while facing charges on pretrial release for the healthcare fraud scheme. 

This week Goyal, 58, of Rye, was sentenced to 96 months in prison.

In addition to the prison term, Goyal was sentenced today to five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay forfeiture of $3.6 million and restitution of $3.6 million. He has already paid approximately $1.79 million toward these obligations.

[ US Attorney Damian Williams]: “Over a seven-year period, he … cheated patients and insurance companies of $3.6 million in false charges. To cover his tracks, he created fictitious operative reports, seeded across hundreds of patient files, violating the integrity of patients’ medical records and making it more difficult for subsequent doctors to evaluate their care. He sent patients who could not pay the upcoded bills to a collection agency, decimating their credit. He pressured other doctors to join the scheme and threatened to retaliate against their livelihood and careers. Even after being arrested for this scheme, Goyal committed a breathtaking new fraud and stole $637,200 from the Paycheck Protection Program in the early days of a devastating pandemic.”

In or about April 2020, GOYAL applied to the SBA and Bank-1, a federally insured institution, for over $630,000 in Government-guaranteed loans through the PPP.  …

On May 4, 2020, Goyal received the first loan of $358,700, and on May 11, 2021, Goyal received the second loan of $278,500. Goyal used the business checking account into which these funds were deposited to pay business and personal expenses, including by making a payment to a country club in Westchester, New York within days of receiving the first loan, as well as payments to a California vineyard and golf merchandise website.

No question, if you’re willing to risk jail for theft, go big. But still, what a dolt.