On Nov. 9, the owner of a Schenectady County medical transportation company pleaded guilty to grand larceny in the first degree for stealing more than $1.8 million from the state’s Medicaid program, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney, and Schenectady County Sheriff Dominic Dagostino announced today. The defendant, Mohammad Chaudhry, is expected to be ordered to pay full restitution and serve three to nine years in state prison.
Chaudhry, 43, indicted in October 2025, was charged with inflating Medicaid bills from January 2020 through September 2024 by submitting claims for rides which never occurred, overbilling for group rides, and lying about the destinations of the trips to inflate their payments.
“Mohammad Chaudhry defrauded the Medicaid program and New York’s taxpayers of nearly $2 million meant to provide health services to New Yorkers,” DiNapoli said. “He will now pay a steep price for his crimes. I thank District Attorney Carney and Sheriff Dagostino for their partnership in rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse of the state’s Medicaid program.”
“The pervasiveness of this type of Medicaid Fraud is disheartening,” Carney said. “This is our second such completed case in Schenectady County and an even larger one was just initiated by arrest. Fortunately Comptroller DiNapoli feels the way we do about these crimes and believes they are most appropriately handled by imprisonment and as much restitution as we can obtain. We owe both to the taxpayers who otherwise pay the costs for these frauds. People contemplating engaging in this type of scheme must be enlightened as to the punishment they will endure for doing so.”
Chaudhry is the owner of Angel Medical Transportation, which was enrolled in the Medicaid program. Under Medicaid regulations, patients may use transportation services for legitimate appointments which are then billed to the Medicaid program by the provider. Group rides are not allowed without prior authorization, and approved providers can only bill for mileage once for the group.
Investigators found that Chaudhry fraudulently billed the Medicaid program by claiming payment for purported individual rides which were actually unauthorized group rides and illegally boosted the amount the company was paid. The company also billed the Medicaid program for rides that never actually occurred and falsified the destination traveled to in order to increase payments to the company.
Investigators also determined that patients who were seeking drug treatment were allegedly paid kickbacks by Chaudhry to use his company’s services to facilitate the crimes. In some instances, the cash kickbacks were allegedly used by the recipients to purchase illicit drugs, undercutting the objective of the treatment.
Chaudhry appeared before Judge Matthew J. Sypniewski in Schenectady County Court. His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 25.
Assistant District Attorneys Leah Hoover and William Lemon of the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case.
Co-defendant Noah Shook, Chaudhry’s office manager, was accused of paying kickbacks to Medicaid recipients as part of the scam. He is due back in court on Nov. 19.
Over the last 18 months, DiNapoli’s investigations of Medicaid fraud have resulted in 62 arrests and the ordered recovery of over $50 million.
Since taking office in 2007, DiNapoli has committed to fighting public corruption and encourages the public to help fight fraud and abuse. New Yorkers can report allegations of fraud involving taxpayer money by calling the toll-free Fraud Hotline at 1-888-672-4555, by filing a complaint online at https://www.osc.state.ny.us/investigations, or by mailing a complaint to: Office of the State Comptroller, Division of Investigations, 8th Floor, 110 State St., Albany, NY 12236.