Whistleblower Settles Lawsuit Against 'Dr. Evil'

• Get Patch’s daily newsletter and real-time news alerts.

DETROIT, MI – A whistleblower who exposed the $17 million Medicare fraud case against a once-prominent Oakland County cancer doctor described as “Dr. Evil” has settled his lawsuit for about $1.7 million, but more allegations naming new defendants surfaced last month in an amended federal complaint.

Dr. Farid Fata was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison in July after he pleaded guilty to prescribing grueling and unnecessary cancer treatments to more than 550 former patients, some who weren’t even sick.

Attorney David Haron, who represented Fata’s former employee, George Karadsheh, in whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2013, confirmed to the Detroit Free Press that the lawsuit had been settled. Also named among several defendants were Fata’s wife, Samar; the Swan for Life Cancer Foundation; and Vital Phramacare.

The settlement with Karadsheh would have permitted the dismissal of “several defendants,” but that action was halted pending the investigation of new allegations, which will remain sealed for several months while the U.S. Attorney’s Office investigates them, according to federal court documents.

Fata is not named in the new allegations, Haron said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has neither confirmed nor denied an investigation into new allegations or individuals.

Karadsheh, a non-physician who was employed at Michigan Hematology-Oncology PC, provided information to federal authorities that led to an Aug. 6, 2013, raid on the Rochester Hills clinic. Karadsheh was fired in August 2013, he believed because Fata suspected his involvement in the investigation.

“Besides what Fata did and what he did to the poor patients he imposed his evil ways on, George is really the hero,” Haron told Free Press. “He stepped forward and shut Fata down. I’ve been handling these cases since 1993 and we’ve had a lot of whistle-blowers. ... I don’t think there’s ever been a more horrific person than Dr. Fata. He is pure evil.”

Recap of Coverage

Stories about Dr. Farid Fata were among our best-read in 2015. Here’s a look back:

• Medicare Report: Disgraced Oncologist One of Nation’s Highest-Paid Physicians
• Disgraced Cancer Doc Named in 20 Lawsuits on Anniversary of Arrest
• Report: State Ignored Whistleblower Suspicious in 2010 of Oncologist’s ‘Chemo Mill’
• Surprise Move in Case Against Cancer Doc Who Misdiagnosed Patients, Prescribed Unnecessary Drugs
• Sentence Handed Down in ‘Dr. Evil’ Medicare Fraud Case