Saratoga doctors face healthcare fraud, money laundering charges

A pair of doctors from California have been charged with committing healthcare fraud and money laundering, reports the Mercury News.

A federal grand jury have indicted doctors Vilasini Ganesh and Gregory Belcher with charges of healthcare fraud, conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Ganesh is also separately accused of submitting claims for services that she knew were not payable by including false codes that logged the seriousness of the patient's condition as well as the time the physician spent examining the patient, false diagnoses, false claims.

Ganesh, 46, a family practitioner and Belcher, 54, an orthopedic surgeon, have been accused of working a scheme between 2009 and 2014 to defraud insurance companies via the Campbell Medical Group, their medical practice, to illegally funnel money to themselves.

The total number of charges includes one count of healthcare fraud conspiracy, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and six counts of money laundering. Ganesh was also charged separately with five counts of healthcare fraud and five counts of false statements relating to healthcare matters.

They face 10 years in jail a fine of $250,000, plus restitution for the healthcare fraud conspiracy charges and 20 years in jail a fine of at least $500,000 for the money laundering charges.