A federal grand jury in Fresno has charged Dr. Sohail Mamdani with mail fraud and money laundering in connection to an alleged disability insurance fraud scheme.

The 46-year-old Los Banos physician was indicted on Oct. 20, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced in a news release Thursday morning.

According to the indictment, the investigation into Mamdani’s Walk-In Medical Clinic in Los Banos revealed a potential loss of $53 million to the state Employment Development Department.

The grand jury additionally charged Mamdani with illegally obtaining a controlled substance.

How Alleged Scheme Worked

According to court documents, between February 2020 and March 2022, Mamdani submitted more than 6,000 initial claims to EDD for disability insurance payments despite having never seen or treated the majority of the claimants. As part of the fraud, Mamdani would charge the purported patient a fee for both the initial disability claim and any supplemental claims.

The indictment separately charges Mamdani with using another doctor’s Drug Enforcement Agency registration number to get controlled substances. Mamdani also allegedly wrote fake prescriptions in the names of others to get controlled substances.

The DEA, FBI, and EDD conducted the investigation of Mamdani. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexandre Dempsey and Michael Tierney are prosecuting the case.

If convicted of fraud and money laundering charges, the doctor faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and heavy fines. The drug charges come with a maximum sentence of four years.