Greenwich Eye Doctor Sentenced To 8 Years In Prison: Prosecutors

GREENWICH, CT — Dr. Ameet Goyal, an ophthalmologist based in Rye, N.Y. who had an office in Greenwich, was sentenced to eight years in prison last week after prosecutors said he cheated patients and insurance companies of $3.6 million in false charges over seven years, and also fraudulently obtained two COVID-19 PPP relief loans.

Goyal, 58, was also sentenced to five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay forfeiture of $3.6 million and restitution of $3.6 million, according to a news release from the office Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Goyal has already paid approximately $1.79 million toward these obligations, Williams' office said.

Williams said Goyal was "blinded by greed."

"Over a seven-year period, he preyed on the trust placed in him and cheated patients and insurance companies of $3.6 million in false charges. To cover his tracks, he created fictitious operative reports, seeded across hundreds of patient files, violating the integrity of patients’ medical records and making it more difficult for subsequent doctors to evaluate their care. He sent patients who could not pay the upcoded bills to a collection agency, decimating their credit," Williams said in a news release.

Goyal's practice, Rye Eye Associates, had offices in Rye, Mt. Kisco and Wappingers Falls, N.Y., as well as Greenwich.

Prosecutors said the scheme took place between 2010 and 2017 when Goyal consistently upcoded simpler, lower-paying surgical procedures and examinations as complex, higher-paying major operations in fraudulent billings submitted to Medicare, private insurance companies and patients.

"As a result, Goyal fraudulently obtained at least $3.6 million in payments for procedures he did not perform," prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said that as part of the scheme, "Goyal routinely falsified patient medical records, authoring fictitious templated operative reports that matched the complex operation he billed rather than the different minor procedure he actually performed."

Goyal also pressured other employees in his practice to engage in the scheme, and threatened the livelihood of employees who refused to comply, prosecutors said.

As a result of the fraudulent billings, Goyal was the highest-billing doctor in the tri-state area for several of his fraudulently billed codes, one of which he billed seven times more frequently than all doctors in the tri-state area combined, according to prosecutors.

Goyal was indicted for health care fraud charges in November 2019 and was released on bail.

While on pretrial release, prosecutors said Goyal applied to the Small Business Administration and a bank for two PPP loans totaling $637,200.

Prosecutors said Goyal submitted the exact same underlying payroll expense report for each loan, and falsely answered that he was not facing any pending criminal charges.

According to a news release, Goyal received the loans in May 2021, and used the business checking account into which these funds were deposited to pay business and personal expenses, including by making a payment to a country club in Westchester, N.Y. within days of receiving the first loan, as well as payments to a California vineyard and golf merchandise website.

Goyal faced additional charges, and pleaded guilty in a six-count superseding indictment in September 2021.

"Even after being arrested for this scheme, Goyal committed a breathtaking new fraud and stole $637,200 from the Paycheck Protection Program in the early days of a devastating pandemic," Williams said in a news release. "For his crimes, Goyal will serve a substantial sentence in prison."