Ahsan Ijaz, 29, of Brooklyn pleaded guilty on October 2, 2026, to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, admitting his role in a scheme that the Justice Department says took about $65 million from New York State Medicaid over roughly seven years. Prosecutors say the money was obtained by paying cash to program recipients and by billing for services that were never provided. Ijaz has not been sentenced, and a sentencing date is set for March 2027.
What the Ijaz guilty plea covers in the Eastern District of New York
The plea was entered in federal court in the Eastern District of New York, and the Justice Department’s announcement of the plea is dated the same day. The single count is conspiracy to commit health care fraud. In the release, the department describes Ijaz as the owner of social adult day care businesses in Brooklyn, and it says the roughly $65 million is the amount defrauded from New York State Medicaid, not a figure for what was billed.
That distinction matters when reading the headline number. A guilty plea is an admission of the offence charged, and the dollar total is the government’s description of the scheme in its release. The release does not describe any forfeiture order or restitution amount, so no recovery figure is attached to the case yet.
How cash kickbacks fed the Medicaid billing
The release describes two moving parts. In its words, over approximately seven years Ijaz’s businesses paid cash kickbacks and bribes to Medicaid recipients to induce them to enroll with the businesses, and then billed Medicaid for services that were not provided. The first step supplied the enrolled recipients; the second turned each enrollment into a claim on the state program.
The release adds a detail that shows how detached some of the billing was from any service. It says Medicaid was billed for services even when certain recipients were not in the United States at the time of service. The department does not put a count on those recipients or a dollar value on that portion of the total.
Three businesses are named in the release: Happy Family Social Adult Day Care Center, Inc., Family Social Adult Day Care Center Inc., and Responsible Care Staffing Inc., which the department describes as a home health care fiscal intermediary. The release does not assign each company a separate role in the scheme.
A tenth defendant to plead guilty in the same scheme
Ijaz is described in the release as the tenth defendant to plead guilty in this scheme, which places the plea inside a wider prosecution rather than a one-off case. The release does not list the other nine defendants in this account of the plea, and nothing in it says the investigation has closed.
The announcement came from a roster of federal and city officials: Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. for the Eastern District of New York, Acting Deputy Inspector General Miranda L. Bennett of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, Acting Special Agent in Charge Pete Gizas of Homeland Security Investigations New York, and NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch.
The investigation was carried out by HHS-OIG, HSI New York and the NYPD. The case is being prosecuted by Deputy Chief Patrick J. Campbell and Trial Attorney Leonid Sandlar of the National Fraud Enforcement Division, together with Assistant U.S. Attorney Claire Kedeshian.
Ten years is the ceiling, not the sentence
The maximum penalty for conspiracy to commit health care fraud, according to the release, is 10 years in prison. That is the statutory ceiling. It is not a prediction of the sentence, and no sentence exists yet. The court has set sentencing for March 10, 2027, which is about five months after the plea.
Until then, the plea stands as a conviction on that one count, with the penalty still to be decided by the court. The release gives no sentencing range for Ijaz and does not say whether any agreement with prosecutors affects the outcome, so none can be reported here.
What the record shows and what it leaves open
The Justice Department’s own wording, not a news summary, is the basis for every figure above: a plea on October 2, about $65 million defrauded from New York State Medicaid, about seven years of conduct, and a March 10, 2027 sentencing. The department’s news index carries the entry for the same October 2 announcement.
What the release does not provide is also clear. It names no forfeiture or seizure, gives no restitution figure, and does not break the $65 million into amounts for kickbacks versus billing for services never delivered. Those answers, if they come, would most likely surface at sentencing in the Eastern District of New York, where the court will decide the penalty for Ahsan Ijaz.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and checked against the primary sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
