Assam-born doctor arrested in US over $150-million scam has troubled history
Tonmoy Sharma, a 61-year-old doctor originally from Bamunimaidam in Guwahati, Assam, has been arrested in the US for allegedly orchestrating a $149-million healthcare fraud, one of the largest cases of its kind. He was taken into custody at the Los Angeles International Airport while allegedly preparing to move to Dubai. Sharma is the founder and former CEO of Sovereign Health Group. Sharma, according to reports, had a troubled past even before he moved to the US.advertisementSharma initially gained recognition in the UK for his pharmaceutical trials, but his medical licence was revoked after concerns were raised about the credibility of his research. Following this, he moved to the US and continued his work there.Sovereign Health Group, once a major network of addiction treatment centres across Southern California, has been under investigation by the FBI since 2017.
In 2018, federal agents raided the group's San Clemente headquarters, several treatment facilities, and Sharma's residence in San Juan Capistrano, according to NBC Los Angeles.Although Sovereign shut down that same year, Sharma quietly continued operating a treatment centre called Dana Shores Recovery under a different name and licence.According to the federal indictment, Sharma submitted over $149 million in fraudulent insurance claims and accepted more than $21 million in illegal kickbacks for patient referrals.advertisementHe now faces four counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy, and three counts of receiving illegal remunerations.If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison for each wire fraud charge, five years for conspiracy, and 10 years per illegal kickback count.TONMOY SHARMA'S CLINICAL TRIALS CAME UNDER CLOUD IN UKIn the 1990s, he gained prominence in the UK for conducting clinical trials for major pharmaceutical companies. However, his reputation quickly began to unravel. In 2001, concerns were raised by Catherine Baxter, a medical adviser at Sanofi, regarding financial irregularities in a 250,000-pound drug study comparing Sanofi's Amisulpride to a rival product from Eli Lilly, according to The Guardian.This prompted Sanofi to hire private investigators, including former Metropolitan Police detective Peter Jay, to probe Sharma's research practices.Sharma responded by filing a defamation lawsuit, which he later withdrew, citing financial hardship.In 2007, after multiple ethics violations and alleged misconduct, the UK's General Medical Council stripped Sharma of his medical licence, the report added.He was found guilty of fabricating ethics approvals, recruiting vulnerable patients by phone without caregiver's consent, and offering financial incentives to study participants.He also falsely claimed academic titles, including a professorship and a doctorate, and was accused of threatening patients who attempted to leave his studies, the Guardian report added.advertisementTo evade legal fallout in the UK, Sharma relocated to the US, according to media reports.WHY TONMOY SHARMA WAS ARRESTED IN THE USIn the US, Tonmoy Sharma created an elaborate scheme through Sovereign Health to exploit the healthcare system. The scam relied heavily on aggressive patient recruitment and insurance fraud.Call centres operated by Sovereign falsely assured patients that their treatment would be covered by a fake charitable foundation. This ruse enabled staff to gather personal information like birth dates and Social Security numbers, which were then used to secretly enrol patients into private insurance plans — often without their knowledge or consent.To make these enrollments possible, Sovereign staff fabricated life events and manipulated income data, allowing patients to qualify for heavily subsidised insurance.These private plans offered higher reimbursements than government-backed Medicaid, making them more profitable for the company. In some cases, Sovereign employees even impersonated patients during phone calls with insurers.Sharma's team also ran a parallel scam involving excessive and expensive drug testing. Patients were subjected to both rapid tests and comprehensive panel tests, often unnecessarily and at inflated costs.advertisementThese tests were billed through Sovereign's in-house lab, Vedanta Laboratories Inc., maximising profits. Insurers were billed for services long after physicians had stopped working with the company.To ensure a steady flow of patients, Sharma and his associate paid illegal kickbacks to brokers disguised as 'marketing fees'. These brokers were given contracts that falsely described their work, but in reality, they were being paid to refer patients — an arrangement that resulted in over $21 million in illegal payouts.TONMOY SHARMA PLANNED TO FLEE TO DUBAIDespite shutting down Sovereign Health in 2018, Sharma continued to operate in the shadows, staying one step ahead of law enforcement. But with mounting legal pressure and ongoing federal investigations, Sharma began preparing to leave the US for Dubai. Before he could flee, he was intercepted and arrested by federal agents at LAX.Sharma's arrest closes a long chapter of fraud, deception, and abuse of the healthcare system. From one corner of the world, Sharma travelled to the UK and then across the Atlantic to the US, where he was arrested for years of fraud that allegedly stripped health insurers of millions of dollars.
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