13 charged in NJ racketeering case involving Medicaid fraud, officials say – The Star-Ledger

BOONTON TOWNSHIP — Thirteen people have been charged in a Boonton Township-based racketeering case allegedly involving Medicaid fraud, kickbacks to doctors, falsifying financial records, bribery and tax evasion.

Complaints against the 13 were filed by state officials today in Superior Court in Morristown. The 13 were arrested on Tuesday by agents from the state Attorney General’s Office, and 12 of them are being held at the Morris County jail pending bail hearings scheduled for Thursday, according to officials at the jail.

Among those arrested was Rehan Zuberi, 45, of Boonton Township, who is among five people facing first-degree racketeering charges for allegedly being “in control of an enterprise engaging in commercial bribery, falsifying records, Medicaid fraud and offering payments to doctors in exchange for referrals in an amount more than $75,000,” according to complaints signed by detective Anthony Correll of the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

Zuberi, who is being held on $1 million bail with no 10 percent option, is the president of the American Imaging Center, an outpatient radiology center. The company performs MRIs and other medical tests on patients referred by doctors at 14 centers across New Jersey, according to its website.

In 1998, Zuberi pleaded guilty to taking part in a fraud scheme in which millions of dollars in unnecessary blood tests were sent to a Manalapan lab in exchange for kickbacks in 1995, according to a report by the state Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor. Zuberi at the time was a partner in two clinics in Newark and one in Paterson, the report said.

Others facing first-degree charges for allegedly controlling the racketeering operation include Baber Eskar, 48, of Pompton Lakes, the company’s chief operating officer; Rohit Gupta, 38, of Edison; Humara Paracha, 38, of Boonton Township, identified by The Record of Woodland Park as Zuberi’s wife; and Faisal Paracha, 30, from the Fords section of Woodbridge.

Facing various charges for allegedly participating in the operation are Jose Lopez, 51, of Passaic; Natividad Urenak, 31, of Clifton; Felix Clarin, 44, of Florham Park; Judith Deleon, 50, of Bloomfield; Thomas Grecco, 25, of Clifton; Salman Siddiqui, 37, from the Lake Hopatcong section of Jefferson; Abid Syed, 37, of East Hanover and Nawab Zuberi, 73, of Boonton.

Officials from the state Attorney General’s Office declined to comment today but expected to provide additional information on Thursday. The case is being prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General Christopher Ruzich.

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