Indian-origin doctor charged in US fraud freed on record USD 7 million bond

Team Udayavani, Jan 17, 2019, 4:40 AM IST

Houston/New Delhi: An Indian-American doctor charged in one of US’ biggest healthcare fraud cases– involving a conspiracy worth a whopping $464 million– was freed on a record $7 million bond.

Rajendra Bothra, a Padmashri-awardee, was charged along with five other physicians in the alleged fraud, which, the US government, said fueled the opioid epidemic.

US District Judge Stephen Murphy granted the bond for him despite the government’s concern that the doctor has hidden money that could bankroll an escape to India.

Bothra, of Bloomfield Hills, who will be released on home confinement and tracked by a GPS tether, must identify all assets under penalty of perjury, Detroit news reported.

Being the lead defendant in one of the largest healthcare fraud cases in the US history, he must liquidate a $8.5 million retirement account to cover the bond, a process that could take three days, it reported.

His wife and daughter, who attended the hearing on Tuesday, will surrender their passports against concerns that the family might flee while Bothra awaits trial in July.

Bothra has investments and many siblings in India.

He is one of the most high-profile Indian-American Republican Party activists and fundraisers. In the 1980s and early 1990s, he hosted major fundraisers for former president George HW Bush and other senior Republican lawmakers.

Apart from his professional achievements in the field of medicine in the United States, Bothra has been active in working for the poor and sick in India.

For about eight weeks each year, Bothra leaves his general surgery practice in Warren and travels to India at his own expenses to work with Indian organizations to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS and drug, tobacco and alcohol addiction.

He holds regular lecture tours in India to educate professionals and lay audiences on health issues. Bothra has worked with the Nargis Dutt Foundation to produce two documentaries, one on AIDS and another on tobacco abuse.

The Indian government also praised him for being instrumental in gifting sophisticated American medical equipment to hospitals in India and assisting in the rebuilding of hospitals of Maharashtra’s Latur after a severe earthquake.

Meanwhile, prosecutors have been unable to pinpoint Bothra’s net worth, which could be as high as $35 million.

Assistant US Attorney Brandy McMillion noted that Bothra owns a real-estate company that owns 22 properties across Metro Detroit, including $2.8 million worth of condominiums and commercial buildings in downtown Royal Oak.

Prosecutors are trying to identify whether the properties were purchased with proceeds from the alleged criminal activity. 

US Attorney Matthew Schneider attended the brief court hearing on Tuesday and said his team of prosecutors will meet and decide whether to appeal the bond.

Bothra, jailed since last month when he was charged alongside five others, is accused of fueling the nation’s opioid epidemic, cheating Medicare and subjecting patients to needless, painful back injections.