According To Documents Filed In Court, Many Of Farash’s Clients Were Attorneys Who Represented Claimants Who Had Taken The Diet Drug Fen-Phen Attorney Said

usdoj gov, Mar 11, 2005

United States Attorney Richard B. Roper announced that Mumtaz Farash, who operated a business named Transamerica Imaging in Dallas which provided echocardiogram services, pled guilty yesterday before the Honorable Jorge A. Solis, United States District Judge, to one count of tax evasion. Farash, a Fort Worth, Texas, resident who is also known as Mumata Farash, Mumata N. Kasal, and Mumtaz Begum, faces a maximum statutory sentence of five years imprisonment, a
$250,000 fine, and restitution. She is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Solis on December 8, 2004.

According to documents filed in court, many of Farash’s clients were attorneys who represented claimants who had taken the diet drug Fen-Phen. American Home Products, the manufacturer of Fen-Phen, entered into a civil settlement agreement administered by the federal district court in Pennsylvania. Agreeing that persons who took Fen-Phen could have sustained
heart regurgitation, as part of that settlement, American Home Products agreed to pay injured parties damages from taking Fen-Phen. As part of the settlement a claimant must obtain an echocardiogram exam to determine whether an injury was sustained.

In 2000, 2001 and 2002, Farash provided echocardiogram services to Fen-Phen claimants and their attorneys and made substantial income from this business. Farash admitted that for the tax years 2001 and 2002, she intentionally falsified her expenses and deductions on her federal income tax returns. The false expenses included a casualty loss which she did not incur in that year, loans to her sister which she labeled as contract labor, a gift to a sister of a co-worker deducted as contract labor, and deducting loan repayments obtained in prior years.Farash filed an amended 2001 income tax return which falsely claimed her income was $279,722 and the amount of tax owed was $115,427. Farash admits that she knew her true taxable income was $580,359.56 and the tax due and owing was $240,802.61.

The false deductions and expenses resulted in under-reporting $304,718 of 2001 income and $33,500 of 2002 income. The false deductions and expenses resulted in additional income tax owed of $132,453.17 for those years.
Farash also admitted that she used the services of Hrishi K. Maewal, a Board Certified Cardiologist to review and sign the medical report summaries of the echocardiograms and paid him approximately $100 cash for signing each medical report. Farash hired Maewal because she was not a Board Certified Cardiologist which AHP required to submit a claim. Eleven medical reports, on which Maewal was the reviewer and signer, and filed with American Home Products
in 2001 and 2002, resulted in false claims totaling $3,953,343.00. U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Michael J. Uhl is prosecuting the case.