A Brooklyn woman, Zakia Khan, has pleaded guilty in federal court to leading a scheme that defrauded Medicaid of about $68 million through kickbacks and bribes at two social adult day care centers she owned in Coney Island. The plea was entered before United States District Judge Natasha C. Merle.
Khan faces up to 15 years in prison when sentenced. Under her plea agreement, she will forfeit $5 million, including several properties and more than $300,000 in cash and gold jewelry seized during a search of her home.
The announcement was made by Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Matthew R. Galeotti, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Christian J. Schrank, Deputy Inspector General for Investigations with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG); Ricky J. Patel, Special Agent in Charge at Homeland Security Investigations New York (HSI New York); and Jessica S. Tisch, Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (NYPD).
“With today’s guilty plea, Khan stands convicted of acting as the ringleader of a scheme responsible for stealing millions of dollars dedicated to the government’s health care safety net,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Our Office and the Justice Department take seriously our responsibility to protect government funds from the clutches of fraudsters and will vigorously prosecute corrupt health care operators like the defendant.”
“The defendant orchestrated a massive scheme to defraud Medicaid, bribing patients to bill a federal health care program over $68 million,” stated Acting Assistant Attorney Galeotti. “Americans will not stand for these schemes that target government programs intended to help society’s most vulnerable members and steal from the public fisc. As demonstrated by today’s announcement, we will continue to aggressively prosecute those who take part in these crimes.”
“Social adult day care and home health services are intended to support seniors, not serve as vehicles for fraud. The defendant’s actions are an affront to hardworking taxpayers and undermine the integrity of our nation’s health care system,” stated Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Schrank of the HHS-OIG. “HHS-OIG will continue to relentlessly pursue anyone who illicitly exploits Medicaid enrollees and the program itself to ensure they are held fully accountable.”
“Zakia Khan has admitted her involvement in a sweeping scheme that defrauded the U.S. government of $68 million in welfare funds meant for one of our country’s most vulnerable populations,” stated HSI New York Special Agent in Charge Patel. “Today’s guilty plea underscores not only the lengths criminal opportunists often take, but also the state-of-the-art skills and procedures utilized by HSI New York to stop them in their tracks.”
“Zakia Khan stole $68 million from the Medicaid program through bribes and kickbacks—money meant to support the most vulnerable,” stated NYPD Commissioner Tisch. “This fraudulent cash grab exploited a federal health care system that people depend on, and the NYPD will keep holding accountable anyone who tries to take advantage of it. Today’s guilty plea is another step towards justice, and I am thankful to the NYPD investigators, all our law enforcement partners, and the prosecutors for their meticulous work on this case.”
Court documents show Khan owned two social adult day care centers—Happy Family Social Adult Day Care Center Inc. (Happy Family) and Family Social Adult Day Care Center Inc.—as well as a home health care fiscal intermediary and Tanwee Services Inc., which was used to conceal proceeds from fraud.
From October 2017 through July 2024, Khan directed marketers she employed to refer Medicaid recipients to her centers while paying them kickbacks or bribes for services that were either not provided or were induced by illegal payments. Multiple business entities were used by Khan and co-defendants both for laundering proceeds from healthcare fraud schemes and generating cash used for further kickbacks.
Two employees—Seema Memon and Amran Hashmi—previously pleaded guilty; eleven additional co-defendants await trial.
Trial Attorneys Patrick J. Campbell and Leonid Sandlar from the Fraud Section are prosecuting with Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Castiglione handling forfeiture matters.
Khan is 54 years old and lives in Brooklyn.
