Kasowitz Wins Greatly Reduced Sentence for New York CEO in Alleged Health Care Fraud Scheme

Kasowitz obtained a remarkable and almost unprecedented sentencing result for Mr. Manish Patel, a New York CEO who was charged in an alleged $48 million health care fraud and kickback scheme that was announced with much fanfare by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.  Prior to bringing in Kasowitz, Mr. Patel had already pled guilty to one count of felony conspiracy and faced a statutory maximum exposure of five years in prison, which was the expected and most common term of incarceration on these levels of alleged lost dollar amounts.  

But instead, following briefing and oral argument by Kasowitz on behalf of Mr. Patel, U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield sentenced Mr. Patel to just 14 months in prison – rather than the expected 60 months – which was one of the lowest sentences, of all those similarly situated, since the landmark Supreme Court decision 20 years ago – United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005) – that rendered the federal sentencing guidelines as advisory (they were previously mandatory).  With good time and First Act credits, Mr. Patel may serve as little as 8½ months, with approximately 1½ months of it most likely in home confinement, resulting in an actual term of institutional confinement of approximately 7 months – down from his exposure of five years.
 
In granting Kasowitz’s request for a lenient sentence, the Court remarked on the record that Mr. Patel was represented by lawyers who fought for him and provided effective representation.  The Judge said:  “by the way, you've probably figured this out, your lawyers have done a great job of representing you.”
 
The Kasowitz team representing Mr. Patel included partner and former SDNY prosecutor and United States Attorney Edward E. McNally, and associates Veronika Alayeva (formerly an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan) and Kathleen Kennedy.