This article outlines the sentencing of two Georgia men for their roles in a massive Medicare fraud that billed more than $522 million for unnecessary genetic tests obtained through illegal kickbacks and falsified paperwork.
Two men have drawn long prison terms for a scheme that targeted Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers. Reyad Salahaldeen, 57, of Buford, Georgia, was sentenced to 151 months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud. Mohamad Mustafa, 28, of Duluth, Georgia, received three years after admitting to paying healthcare kickbacks.
The fraud centered on medically unnecessary genetic testing sold to beneficiaries whose insurance information was collected through inducements and bribes. Court documents say Salahaldeen controlled four laboratories under various business names across New Jersey, Georgia, and Texas. From 2018 through August 2020 the operation submitted about $522 million in false and fraudulent claims.
Investigators say the conspirators funneled kickbacks and bribes to a network of marketers who recruited insured individuals and collected DNA samples. Tests were billed as predictive screens for cancer risk, adverse drug reactions, and other conditions that did not require medical justification. The four labs billed roughly $522 million, and federal and private payers covered approximately $84 million of those claims.
“Under the guise of health care, these two fraudsters attempted to steal more than half a billion dollars from taxpayers through a web of sham contracts, lies, and bribes,” said Colin M. McDonald, Assistant Attorney for the National Fraud Enforcement Division. This kind of theft drains resources meant for real patients and proves why tough enforcement matters to protect taxpayers and the integrity of medicine.
Prosecutors laid out how marketers used telemarketing, door-to-door solicitations, and appearances at health fairs to harvest personal information and DNA. Medical requisition forms were often fabricated or obtained fraudulently from providers who had not treated the beneficiaries. Salahaldeen and co-conspirators also falsified letters of medical necessity and other records so the testing would appear legitimate on paper despite never informing clinical care.
After the indictment, Salahaldeen attempted to flee, traveling from North Carolina to Texas and trying to enter Mexico. He was stopped at the border after presenting another person’s identification, a further effort to evade arrest and prosecution. Mustafa ran operations at several of the implicated labs with Salahaldeen and paid the kickbacks that kept the marketing engine running.
To hide the illicit payments, the pair produced sham contracts, fake invoices, and bogus documentation portraying bribes as ordinary marketing fees. Salahaldeen was ordered to pay $84.5 million in restitution and to forfeit $3 million from bank accounts, a 2019 GMC Yukon, and property in Texas and Georgia. Mustafa faces $64.3 million in restitution tied to his role in the scheme.
Eleven co-conspirators had already pleaded guilty and received sentences ranging from house arrest to multiple years in prison. The listed individuals and penalties included Travores Wills, 46 months; Elijua Watson, 27 months; Diego Pancha Valencia, 26 months; Shauntae Walker, 24 months; Cassandra Latham, 21 months; LaTosha McCune, 18 months; Vinit Patel, 12 months; Jose Rodriguez Ospina, 12 months; Edward Giles, 12 months; Derek McCune, 12 months; and Nelson Giraldo, six months of house arrest plus three years of probation.
HHS-OIG and the FBI investigated the case, and the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted it under Acting Principal Assistant Chief Rebecca Yuan and Acting Assistant Chief Gary A. Winters. Acting Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Scott J. Lampert of HHS-OIG and Acting Special Agent in Charge Peter Ellis of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office joined in making the announcement. The Department of Justice recently created the National Fraud Enforcement Division to focus on large-scale fraud against the American people.
The announcement noted that the DOJ’s broader Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program has charged thousands of defendants over many years and that agency efforts align with a White House-backed task force to eliminate fraud in federal benefit programs. That national focus reflects a Republican priority: tighten enforcement, recover taxpayer dollars, and restore trust in government-run health programs. The prosecutions in this case are an example of that approach in action.
