United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced that Niranjan Mittal was sentenced to 37 months in prison in connection with a years’ long healthcare fraud and bribery scheme. In addition to the prison term, Mittal, 72, of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit the proceeds traceable to his offense. As part of that scheme, Mittal, a Brooklyn-based cardiologist, paid physicians for patient referrals. The defendant also fabricated patient records in order to bill for medically unnecessary vascular procedures. Since at least 2016, Mittal operated a medical clinic in Brooklyn, New York (the “Brooklyn Clinic”), with a patient base consisting of many individuals of limited economic means who were insured by government healthcare programs.
As a result of Mittal’s scheme, patients at the Brooklyn Clinic, many of whom were already in poor health, routinely underwent medically unnecessary vascular interventions at Mittal’s office, with some patients undergoing 10 or more interventional procedures over the course of several years. The patients’ conditions often did not improve, despite these repeated interventions. Between 2016 and 2023, insurers paid over $40 million to Mittal’s practice for claims from patients who were referred by doctors who received improper “rent” payments from Mittal.