A Yuma Doctor’s Conviction Highlights a Massive Medicaid Fraud Scheme
A medical professional in Yuma has been found guilty of orchestrating a large-scale fraud operation within Arizona’s Medicaid system, resulting in the theft of tens of millions of dollars.
Irfan Fazil, a physician based in Yuma, was convicted on September 4 on four felony charges, including fraudulent schemes and artifices, illegal control of an enterprise, theft, and illegal procurement of a dangerous drug. These charges are connected to his extensive fraud scheme against the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), which is the state’s Medicaid program.
According to the state attorney general’s office, Fazil engaged in fraudulent billing practices, charging patients for services they never received. This included thousands of X-rays and various other tests. An investigation conducted by the attorney general’s office examined 27 patients who had exceptionally high billing volumes. In one extreme case, a patient was billed for over 1,700 X-rays within a six-month period—a frequency that would have posed significant radiation hazards had the scans actually been conducted.
The investigation revealed that Fazil amassed more than $36 million through this fraudulent scheme. The ill-gotten gains were used to purchase luxury items, such as real estate, multiple aircraft, jewelry, cryptocurrency, and gold bars.
“Dr. Fazil abused his position as a physician to steal more than $36 million from a taxpayer-funded program that exists to provide health care to Arizona’s most vulnerable residents,” stated Attorney General Kris Mayes. “He billed for thousands of X-rays and other medical treatments that could not possibly have been performed and treated AHCCCS as his personal bank account.”
Additionally, Fazil was found guilty of writing prescriptions for controlled substances in his wife’s name and retrieving them from the pharmacy himself.
In response to the convictions, Fazil surrendered his medical license and DEA registration and has been ordered to repay the entire $36 million in restitution. On October 2, he was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, followed by seven years of probation.
