New York State Comptroller DiNapoli and District Attorney Hoovler Announce Indictment in Medicaid Fraud Case

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Monday, November 10, 2025, Rohail Raja, age 45, and his wife, Sharma Alam, age 45, both of the Town of New Windsor, were arraigned on an indictment charging them with Grand Larceny in the First Degree and Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree in connection with a scheme to defraud the New York State Medicaid program of millions of dollars. Both were remanded to Orange County Jail in lieu of $1,000,000 cash bail, $5,000,000 fully secured bond or $10,000,000 partially secured bond. On Tuesday, November 18, 2025, co-defendant Ari Manojkumar, age 33, of Highland, was also arraigned on charges of Grand Larceny in the First Degree and Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree. Manojkumar was remanded to Orange County Jail without bail. Two corporations, Unique Class Limo, Inc., and SNR Limo, Inc., were arraigned on charges of Grand Larceny in the First Degree and Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, respectively.

As alleged in documents filed and statements made in court, between February 1, 2020 and September 30, 2024, in the Town of New Windsor, and elsewhere in the State of New York, Raja and Alam, who are married to each other, stole over $3,500,000.00 in Medicaid funds from the New York State Department of Health. The thefts are alleged to have occurred through fraudulent claims submitted by two Medicaid transportation companies owned by those defendants. These two companies are paid by the New York State Department of Health to provide transportation to Medicaid recipients to go to and from approved Medicaid medical service providers. It is alleged that the defendants acted in concert with each other in stealing the funds through two fraudulent billing schemes. Further, the indictment alleges that, as a manager for the corporations, Manojkumar delivered cash to Medicaid recipients being transported, to drivers that he supervised so that the drivers could deliver cash to Medicaid recipients being transported, and aided Raja and Alam, the principals of Unique Class Limo, Inc., and SNR Limo, Inc. in submitting false billing records to Medicaid.

A joint investigation was conducted by the Orange County District Attorney's Office, the Office of the New York State Comptroller, the Orange County Sheriff's Office, the Orange County Drug Taskforce, and the Orange County White Collar Crimes Taskforce. They were assisted in the investigation by the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General and the Hudson Valley Crime Analysis Center. Based upon information developed during the investigation, the District Attorney's Office applied for a search warrant which was executed Raja and Alam's Town of New Windsor residence by investigators of the Orange County District Attorney's Office and Orange County Sheriff's Office, who were accompanied by investigators from the Office of the State Comptroller.

During the investigation, claims for payments submitted by the defendants' companies were compared to records from the Medicaid medical service providers named in the claims. An auditor of the Office of the New York State Comptroller discovered that the New York State Department of Health had paid the defendants millions of dollars for ostensibly transporting Medicaid recipients to Medicaid health care providers on dates and time when the provider records show that no such visits occurred.

In addition, a review of the claims submitted by the defendants' companies during that same time period disclosed that the defendants' companies had been fraudulently submitting claims to the New York State Department of Health which falsely indicated that the companies had transported Medicaid recipients separately to medical appointments, when in reality they had transported multiple Medicaid recipients in one trip. It is alleged that the defendants fraudulently billed the Department of Health by claiming that the transport for each Medicaid recipient was a separate trip.

The investigation revealed that through these two schemes the defendants stole in excess of $3,500,000 from the New York State Medicaid Program. The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is urged to contact the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

DiNapoli said, "Ari Manojkumar allegedly conspired to scam the Medicaid Program out of nearly $3 million dollars meant to promote the health of deserving New Yorkers. My office will continue to aggressively work with law enforcement to root out fraud in the Medicaid Program and hold offenders responsible. I thank District Attorney Hoovler for his ongoing partnership to protect public funds and the Medicaid system."

Hoovler said, "This investigation uncovered broad and blatant fraud that undermines the critical services these defendants purported to provide. I am proud that this is the largest Medicaid fraud scheme ever prosecuted by the Orange County District Attorney's Office. I remain grateful to Comptroller DiNapoli, and his staff, for partnering with the District Attorney's Office and the Orange County White-Collar Crimes Taskforce on this important investigation. This important work on behalf of the citizens of Orange County will continue."

The case is being prosecuted by Chief Assistant District Attorney Christopher Borek.

A criminal charge is merely an allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of the criminal law, and it is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the State of New York's burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Since taking office in 2007, DiNapoli has committed to fighting public corruption and encourages the public to help fight fraud and abuse. New Yorkers can report allegations of fraud involving taxpayer money by calling the toll-free Fraud Hotline at 1-888-672-4555, by filing a complaint online at [email protected], or by mailing a complaint to: Office of the State Comptroller, Division of Investigations, 8th Floor, 110 State St., Albany, NY 12236.