United States v. Damian Williams, et al.
raw: U.S. Attorney Announces Guilty Plea By A Chiropractor For Defrauding The NBA Players’ Health And Welfare Benefit Plan
U.S. Attorney Announces Guilty Plea By A Chiropractor For Defrauding The NBA Players’ Health And Welfare Benefit Plan (S.D.N.Y. June 24, 2022)
summary
Chiropractor Patrick Khaziran, a/k/a 'Dr. Pat,' pled guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud for creating fraudulent invoices and unauthorized debit card charges for unrendered medical services, defrauding the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan of $1.3 million, and received $429,000 as his cut, agreeing to pay full restitution and forfeit that amount, with sentencing set for January 12, 2023.
paragraph
Patrick Khaziran, a Los Angeles-based chiropractor, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud for orchestrating a scheme that defrauded the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan of $1.3 million between 2016 and 2019. He fabricated invoices and illicitly charged Plan-issued debit cards for medical services never provided, collaborating with former NBA players Terrence Williams and Keyon Dooling, whose charges remain pending. As part of his guilty plea, Khaziran agreed to pay $1.3 million in restitution and forfeit $429,000—the amount he received as his 33% share of the fraud—and faces up to ten years in prison.
narrative
Patrick Khaziran, a/k/a 'Dr. Pat,' a licensed chiropractor in Los Angeles, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud for orchestrating a multi-year scheme to defraud the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan of approximately $1.3 million between 2016 and 2019. He created fraudulent invoices and illicitly charged Plan-issued debit cards for medical services that were never rendered, exploiting the system by submitting false claims on behalf of former NBA players, including Terrence Williams and Keyon Dooling, who are still facing pending charges. In exchange for his role, Khaziran received approximately 33% of the fraudulent proceeds—totaling $429,000—while the remaining funds were retained by the cooperating players. As part of his guilty plea, he agreed to pay full restitution of $1.3 million and forfeit the $429,000 he personally profited from the fraud. The scheme was uncovered through an FBI investigation, and the case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Khaziran is scheduled to be sentenced on January 12, 2023, and faces a maximum statutory penalty of ten years in prison. The U.S. Attorney emphasized that this case underscores the government’s commitment to holding medical providers accountable for abusing their positions to defraud health benefit plans.
Classified health-care-fraud(confidence 100%). No EDGAR filing fingerprint (criminal/DOJ-side scheme). detection rule →
Parties
damian williamspatrick khaziran
Keywords
nbaplayerskhaziranhealth welfarewelfare benefitbenefit planplanplayers healthfraudulent invoiceshealthmedical servicesfraudulentformerwelfarebenefit
Extracted insights
Dollar amounts 4
- $1.30M $1.3 Million $1M–$10M
- $1.30M $1.3 million $1M–$10M
- $1.30M $1,300,000 $1M–$10M
- $429K $429,000 $100K–$1M
Entities 2
- person damian williams
- person patrick khaziran
Triples 8
- U.S. Attorney Announces Guilty Plea By A Chiropractor For Defrauding The NBA Players’ Health And Welfare Benefit Plan
- Patrick Khaziran Provided Fraudulent Invoices to Former NBA Players to Defraud the NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan
- Damian Williams Announced Patrick Khaziran pled guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud
- Khaziran Abused His position as a medical services provider by creating fraudulent invoices
- Khaziran Defrauded The NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan of at least $1.3 million
- Khaziran Created Fraudulent invoices for former NBA players
- Khaziran Charged The Plan-issued debit cards of former NBA players for medical services that were never actually provided
- Khaziran Received Approximately 33% of the fraudulent proceeds he documented
Extracted body text (4,957c)
Press Release U.S. Attorney Announces Guilty Plea By A Chiropractor For Defrauding The NBA Players’ Health And Welfare Benefit Plan Friday, June 24, 2022 Share FacebookLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. XLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. LinkedInLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. Email For Immediate Release U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York Patrick Khaziran, a/k/a “Dr. Pat,” a Los Angeles-Based Chiropractor, Provided Fraudulent Invoices to Former NBA Players to Defraud the NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan out of $1.3 Million Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that PATRICK KHAZIRAN, a/k/a “Dr. Pat,” pled guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud the National Basketball Association (“NBA”) Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan. KHAZIRAN pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Valerie E. Caproni. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Khaziran abused his position as a medical services provider by creating fraudulent invoices and defrauding the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan of at least $1.3 million. I thank our law enforcement partners in the FBI for their hard work unraveling this pervasive scheme. My office will continue to investigate those who abuse their positions as medical service providers to commit fraud.” According to the Information, public court filings, and statements made in court: The NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan (the “Plan”) is a health care plan providing benefits to eligible active and former players of the NBA. KHAZIRAN is a chiropractor licensed in the State of California who owns and operates a chiropractic office (“Chiropractic Office-1”), which is a chiropractic and rehabilitation office in Los Angeles, California. Chiropractic Office-1 serves the general public and also provides rehabilitation services to professional athletes. From at least in or about 2016, up to and including at least in or about 2019, KHAZIRAN participated in a scheme with other several former NBA players, including Terrence Williams and Keyon Dooling, to defraud the Plan.[1] KHAZIRAN’s role in the scheme was to document that former NBA players received certain medical services when, in truth and in fact, the medical services were never provided. KHAZIRAN accomplished his role in the scheme in two ways. First, beginning in 2016, KHAZIRAN created, and caused others to create, fraudulent invoices for former NBA players. The former NBA players that received fraudulent invoices then, in turn, submitted the fraudulent invoices to the Plan to request reimbursements that they were not entitled to. Second, KHAZIRAN charged, and caused others to charge, the Plan-issued debit cards of former NBA players. The Plan-issued debit cards were intended to be used by Plan participants to pay for eligible medical services at the point of service. However, KHAZIRAN charged the Plan-issued debit cards of former NBA players for medical services that were never actually provided. In return for his participation in the scheme, KHAZIRAN received approximately 33% of the fraudulent proceeds he documented—i.e., 33% of the value of the fraudulent invoices and 33% of the fraudulent charges on Plan-issued debit cards, which totaled approximately $1.3 million. The remaining fraudulent proceeds were kept by the former NBA players KHAZIRAN conspired with. * * * KHAZIRAN, 40, of Los Angeles, California, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, which carries a maximum term of ten years in prison. As part of his guilty plea, KHAZIRAN agreed to pay restitution of $1,300,000 and to forfeit $429,000 to the United States. KHAZIRAN is scheduled to be sentenced on January 12, 2023. The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge. Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Ryan B. Finkel and Kristy J. Greenberg are in charge of the prosecution. [1] Charges against Williams and Dooling are pending. Contact Nicholas Biase Victoria Bosah (212) 637-2600 Updated June 24, 2022 Component USAO - New York, Southern Press Release Number: 22-203
OCR text (4,957c · plain-text · 99% conf)
Press Release U.S. Attorney Announces Guilty Plea By A Chiropractor For Defrauding The NBA Players’ Health And Welfare Benefit Plan Friday, June 24, 2022 Share FacebookLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. XLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. LinkedInLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. Email For Immediate Release U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York Patrick Khaziran, a/k/a “Dr. Pat,” a Los Angeles-Based Chiropractor, Provided Fraudulent Invoices to Former NBA Players to Defraud the NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan out of $1.3 Million Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that PATRICK KHAZIRAN, a/k/a “Dr. Pat,” pled guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud the National Basketball Association (“NBA”) Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan. KHAZIRAN pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Valerie E. Caproni. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Khaziran abused his position as a medical services provider by creating fraudulent invoices and defrauding the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan of at least $1.3 million. I thank our law enforcement partners in the FBI for their hard work unraveling this pervasive scheme. My office will continue to investigate those who abuse their positions as medical service providers to commit fraud.” According to the Information, public court filings, and statements made in court: The NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan (the “Plan”) is a health care plan providing benefits to eligible active and former players of the NBA. KHAZIRAN is a chiropractor licensed in the State of California who owns and operates a chiropractic office (“Chiropractic Office-1”), which is a chiropractic and rehabilitation office in Los Angeles, California. Chiropractic Office-1 serves the general public and also provides rehabilitation services to professional athletes. From at least in or about 2016, up to and including at least in or about 2019, KHAZIRAN participated in a scheme with other several former NBA players, including Terrence Williams and Keyon Dooling, to defraud the Plan.[1] KHAZIRAN’s role in the scheme was to document that former NBA players received certain medical services when, in truth and in fact, the medical services were never provided. KHAZIRAN accomplished his role in the scheme in two ways. First, beginning in 2016, KHAZIRAN created, and caused others to create, fraudulent invoices for former NBA players. The former NBA players that received fraudulent invoices then, in turn, submitted the fraudulent invoices to the Plan to request reimbursements that they were not entitled to. Second, KHAZIRAN charged, and caused others to charge, the Plan-issued debit cards of former NBA players. The Plan-issued debit cards were intended to be used by Plan participants to pay for eligible medical services at the point of service. However, KHAZIRAN charged the Plan-issued debit cards of former NBA players for medical services that were never actually provided. In return for his participation in the scheme, KHAZIRAN received approximately 33% of the fraudulent proceeds he documented—i.e., 33% of the value of the fraudulent invoices and 33% of the fraudulent charges on Plan-issued debit cards, which totaled approximately $1.3 million. The remaining fraudulent proceeds were kept by the former NBA players KHAZIRAN conspired with. * * * KHAZIRAN, 40, of Los Angeles, California, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, which carries a maximum term of ten years in prison. As part of his guilty plea, KHAZIRAN agreed to pay restitution of $1,300,000 and to forfeit $429,000 to the United States. KHAZIRAN is scheduled to be sentenced on January 12, 2023. The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge. Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Ryan B. Finkel and Kristy J. Greenberg are in charge of the prosecution. [1] Charges against Williams and Dooling are pending. Contact Nicholas Biase Victoria Bosah (212) 637-2600 Updated June 24, 2022 Component USAO - New York, Southern Press Release Number: 22-203