Hudson Valley Transportation Company Owners Stole $2.1M From Medicaid

MONROE, NY — The owners of an Orange County transportation company have admitted to a multimillion-dollar Medicaid fraud scheme.

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Tuesday that the owners of DYD Universe, Inc. (DYD), an Orange County Medicaid-enrolled transportation company, have pleaded guilty for their roles in a scheme that stole over $2.1 million from Medicaid and paid illegal kickbacks to Medicaid recipients.

"Stealing taxpayer funds that are meant to provide health care for low-income New Yorkers is unacceptable," James said. "Instead of providing vulnerable patients with the transportation services they needed to get them to their appointments, these individuals exploited Medicaid recipients to carry out their fraud. I will not tolerate schemes like these that damage our health care system, and my office will continue to go after fraudsters who steal from Medicaid.”

Medicaid recipients who do not have access to transportation are able to use approved transportation providers to travel to and from covered medical services. The transportation providers then receive reimbursements from Medicaid.

From April 2018 to March 2023, Daler and Damir Yuldashev billed Medicaid for fake trips and added fake tolls (from $15 to $50) to trips to inflate their costs. This resulted in DYD illegally overcharging Medicaid more than $2.1 million.

In order to pull off their scheme, DYD's owners illegally paid Medicaid recipients to sign up with their companny and use fake addresses or drive themselves to their appointments, which allowed DYD to either inflate or submit entirely fake claims to Medicaid. According to the attorney general, some passengers were paid thousands of dollars each to take rides that allowed DYD to collect tens of thousands of dollars in fees per passenger.

64-year-old Damir Yuldashev pleaded guilty to felony first degree grand larceny. His son, 38-year-old Daler Yuldashev pleaded guilty to felony third degree grand larceny. Daler Yuldashev's mother, 60-year-old Nigina Iskandarova pleaded guilty to violating New York's anti-kickback statute, Social Services Law section 366-d, a class E felony.

The company also pleaded guilty to first degree grand larceny.

Damir Yuldashev faces two to six years in state prison.

Damir and Daler Yuldashev are required to pay $2,127,624 to Medicaid in restitution for their crimes. If they fail to pay restitution, the will be required to serve additional time in state prison.

Daler Yuldashev and Nigina Iskandarova will be sentenced to probation, with Daler Yuldashev required to perform at least 1,200 hours of community service.

All three are permanently excluded from being a provider in all government-funded health programs, including Medicaid and Medicare.

The Office of the Attorney General thanked the New York State Department of Health and the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General for their assistance in the investigation.

Reporting Medicaid Provider Fraud: MFCU defends the public by addressing Medicaid provider fraud and protecting nursing home residents from abuse and neglect. Anyone who believes they have information about Medicaid provider fraud or about an incident of abuse or neglect of a nursing home resident, can file a confidential complaint online or call the MFCU hotline at 800- 771-7755.