Two California residents, Kevin M. Dickau and Dr. Akikur Mohammad, admitted to participating in a conspiracy to broker patients as part of a multi-state patient scheme in which Dickau of them directed recruiters to bribe drug-addicted individuals to enroll in drug rehabilitation and Dr. Mohammad paid referral fees from his rehabilitation center in exchange for those patient referrals. Dickau pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Mohammad pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (EKRA). Mohammad’s EKRA conviction is among the first such convictions in the country using the new charge.
Dickau and other co-conspirators used a California marketing company to orchestrate a scheme in New Jersey, Maryland, California, and other states that involved bribing individuals addicted to heroin and other drugs to enter into drug rehabilitation centers and generate referral fees of $5,000 to $10,000 per patient referral from those facilities. One facility in California that paid referral fees was owned and operated by Mohammad and had a contract with the marketing company. Dickau and his co-conspirators brokered scores of patients to drug treatment facilities around the country and the conspiracy caused millions of dollars of losses for health insurers.