An Illinois doctor, Krishnaswami Sriram, has been handed a 34-month prison sentence for his role in a health care fraud scheme and for sneaking around his tax obligations to the tune of about $1.6 million. Sriram, hailing from Lake Forest, Illinois didn't just hide his assets, but he also flat-out lied to the IRS about his financial capabilities when it came to settling his hefty tax debts, which included penalties and interest.
According to the Department of Justice, Sriram's evasion game went on for a good stretch—from approximately 2011 to 2017. In a classic misdirection play, he transferred two rental properties into his children's names without their knowledge, while still pocketing the income from those properties. He didn't stop there, though; he shipped off around $700,000 from his U.S. bank accounts over to India. In an effort to show Uncle Sam a smaller bottom line, Sriram submitted an offer-in-compromise to the IRS that conveniently left out an investment account in the U.S., as well as bank and investment accounts in India, not to mention the ownership details of the rental properties. In total, Sriram caused the IRS a tax loss of around $1.6 million.
But his dodgy dealings extended into Medicare fraud as well. From 2012 to 2022, Sriram submitted false billings for in-home physician care that were nothing more than phantoms. For instance, he billed for services allegedly provided to Medicare beneficiaries who were, in some cases, already deceased or staying in inpatient facilities, not their homes. His fraudulent claims led to $136,980.36 being falsely billed to the Medicare system.
In light of his offences, the court also mandated a three-year supervised release following Sriram's prison term, and they're making him pay back approximately $1.7 million in restitution to the United States. The IRS's Criminal Investigation unit was the muscle behind the case, bringing Sriram's financial sleights of hand to light.
The tall task of prosecuting the case fell to Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara E. Henderson for the Northern District of California, with an assist from former Trial Attorney Victor Yanz of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
