The former president of Houston's United Memorial Medical Center, Syed Rizwan Mohiuddin, was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and hit with an $11 million restitution bill for a conspiracy charge related to a fraudulent $8 million loan obtained in 2010, according to the Houston Chronicle. Mohiuddin, who has also faced down accusations in a whistleblower complaint of profiting from overbilling the government for COVID tests and patient care at the hospital, pled guilty in connection with the federal conspiracy charge.
According to court documents, the charge and subsequent sentencing stem from Mohiuddin's involvement in presenting forged records to secure the substantial loan, claiming to be the "point man" for Deyaar Development Corporation, the company that had purchased the collateral property three years prior to the loan acquisition. Despite the evidence, Mr. Mohiuddin and his attorney Nathan Mays have declined to comment on the matter. The former hospital exec, now facing a reality of three years of supervised release post-incarceration, originally fought the charges pleading not guilty in 2018, as mentioned in the Becker's Hospital Review.
Today's hearing, much of which was conducted behind closed doors due to ongoing investigations, Rodolfo Rivera of Fidelity National Financial, which was scammed by Mohiuddin's "complex fraudulent business schemes," read a victim impact statement. Rivera called the orchestration "one of the biggest scams" his company had encountered, involving meticulous planning and collusion. Following his intricate deception, Mohiuddin was forced into bankruptcy proceedings in earlier years and, though he settled with $6.1 million, he is purportedly still on the hook for over $30 million to various entities, including Fidelity National Financial and other insurance providers.
UMMC garnered global attention during the pandemic for its treatment and testing capabilities; however, the hospital's operations crumbled post-exposure of safety deficiencies so severe they were deemed as putting patients in "immediate jeopardy" by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as reported by the Houston Chronicle. As of last year, Baytown Medical Center LP has taken over what remains of the United Memorial Medical Center's operations at a couple of its former locations.
