NEW YORK (TIP): Sunita Kumar, an Indian American Brooklyn based pharmacy owner/operator has been charged with defrauding Medicare and Medicaid programs of approximately $9 Million.

Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the unsealing of a criminal Complaint charging defendant Sunita Kumar with operating a health care fraud scheme utilizing two pharmacies in Brooklyn, New York, through which KUMAR submitted approximately $9 million in fraudulent claims to Medicaid and Medicare. KUMAR was arrested July 10 morning and was presented in Manhattan federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew J. Peck.

Attorney Joon H. Kim said: “As alleged, Sunita Kumar defrauded Medicare and Medicaid, public programs to assist the indigent and the elderly, by submitting $9 million in fraudulent claims. She allegedly did so by inducing people to surrender their own prescriptions and forego their medications in exchange for kickbacks. Medicare and Medicaid provide critical health care for some of our most vulnerable citizens. Together with our law enforcement partners, we will aggressively pursue those who allegedly use public programs as a vehicle for illegal personal profit.”

Kumar, 54, of Old Westbury, New York, is charged with one count of health care fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and one count of paying illegal remuneration in the form of kickbacks, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

(Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York)