NYC Doctor Faces Prison Time For Medicaid Scam Over HIV Meds

NEW YORK (AP) -- A New York City doctor has been found guilty of scamming Medicaid out of $700,000 by prescribing HIV medications for people who didn't have it.

A jury convicted Dr. Suresh Hemrajani Wednesday of grand larceny and other charges. His lawyer didn't immediately return a call.

The Manhattan District Attorney's office says the 58-year-old Hemrajani prescribed medications for the virus that causes AIDS without determining whether the patients had it. Prosecutors say Hemrajani billed Medicaid for treatment he didn't provide.

Authorities have said the patients traded the drugs for cash from middlemen, who sold the medicine illegally. Thirty were criminally charged.

Some patients were later tested for the virus and didn't have it.

Hemrajani faces up to 15 years in prison on the top count at a Jan. 18 sentencing.

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