International Fugitive Homecare Owner Sentenced in $7.9M Medicare Fraud

WASHINGTON—The Office of Public Affairs announced that a Michigan home health care company owner was sentenced to three years and five months in prison for his role in a health care fraud conspiracy, which resulted in almost $7.9 million in false and fraudulent claims for home health care services paid by Medicare Part A.

According to the court documents, Muhammad Zafar, 53, owned and operated a home health care business in Michigan. With three doctors and two other home health care company owners, Zafar offered kickbacks, bribes and other inducements to beneficiary recruiters in exchange for Medicare beneficiary information. As a result, Zafar and his co-conspirators used this information to bill Medicare for services that were medically unnecessary and not provided. 

On the same day that Zafar initially appeared in court—which took place on June 17, 2015—he violated his court-issued bond, crossed the international border into Canada and shortly thereafter flew to Pakistan. There, Zafar remained an international fugitive for approximately seven and a half years, before deciding to return to the U.S. to face the charges against him.

On May 29, 2024, Zafar pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud. Additionally, Zafar pleaded guilty to submitting approximately $393,500 in claims to Medicare from his home health care company for services that were medically unnecessary, ineligible for Medicare reimbursement and not provided as represented.