- Friday, June 06, 2025
The 61-year-old psychiatrist, hailing from Guwahati, made fraudulent claims to health insurers and enrolled patients into insurance plans without their knowledge
By: India Weekly
AN INDIAN-AMERICAN mental health provider, Tonmoy Sharma, was recently arrested in Los Angeles for his alleged involvement in making fraudulent claims of $149 million to health insurers.
Hailing from Guwahati in Assam, the 61-year-old doctor is the founder and former CEO of the now-defunct Sovereign Health Group, which ran multiple addiction treatment centres in Southern California.
Sharma was arrested on May 29 at Los Angeles airport on an eight-count federal grand jury indictment.
The US Attorney’s Office states that he has been charged with four counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy, and three counts of illegal remuneration for referrals to clinical treatment facilities.
Sovereign Health Group had fraudulently enrolled patients into insurance plans without their knowledge, using deceptive tactics.
The company billed insurers for unauthorized urinalysis tests, generating over $29 million in fraudulent claims.
In addition, Sharma paid more than $21 million in illegal kickbacks for patient referrals, according to US justice department.
Co-defendant in the case, Paul Jin Sen Khor, who managed Sovereign’s finances, was also arrested but pleaded not guilty.
His trial is set for July 29.
The investigation into Sovereign Health Group began in June 2017 and the company shut down in 2018.
The FBI had raided its treatment facilities, its headquarters in San Clemente, Sharma’s residence in San Juan Capistrano.
Sharma has made significant contributions to psychiatric research and co-authored five books on schizophrenia.
An alumnus of Dibrugarh Medical College, Sharma has more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, and co-authored five books on schizophrenia.
If convicted, Sharma will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each wire fraud count.
Sharma and Khor would face up to five years in federal prison for the conspiracy count, and up to 10 years in federal prison for each illegal remuneration count.
