Yuma Doctor Sentenced to 7.5 Years in Prison for $36.5 Million Medicaid Fraud

YUMA, Ariz. — A former Yuma doctor was sentenced to more than seven years in prison Friday after pleading guilty to orchestrating a scheme that defrauded the state's Medicaid program of $36.5 million, prosecutors said.

Dr. Irfan Fazil was sentenced in Yuma County Superior Court on October 2 to seven and a half years in the Arizona Department of Corrections followed by seven years of probation. He also will forfeit all of his assets and pay more than $36.5 million in restitution to AHCCCS, the state Medicaid program.

Fazil was convicted on September 4 of four felony counts: Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices, Illegal Control of an Enterprise, Theft, and Illegal Procurement of a Dangerous Drug. A state grand jury had indicted him on six felony counts in June as part of a major Medicaid fraud crackdown.

Massive Billing Scheme

Between July 1 and December 31, 2025, Fazil used three business entities. Bio Family Clinic, Inc., Yuma Mobile X-Ray, and Yuma Kidney and Dialysis billed AHCCCS for tens of thousands of radiology services including X-rays, ECGs, CT scans, and ultrasounds.

His entities collected $36.5 million in AHCCCS payments during that six-month period. That figure compared with $4.7 million over the preceding two and a half years, a 671 percent increase in paid claims.

Investigators focused on the 27 patients with the highest billing volumes. In one case, a single patient's account was billed for more than 1,700 X-rays in six months, a physically impossible number that would have caused serious harm from radiation exposure.

Patient Raises the Alarm

Kara Carson, a patient of Fazil's for about 15 years along with her father, said she first suspected fraud after her insurance company called to ask whether she was still in a wheelchair and still had tubes in her throat.

"As you can clearly see, there is no tube in my throat; I never had one. I am not in a wheelchair. I very much can walk just fine, and I have MS, is what I've been told. That was all news to me. I literally asked them three times, 'You sure you have the right person?'" Carson told local media.

"I told my doctor about it, and he was like, 'I didn't put that in your file,'" she said.

Lavish Lifestyle

Fazil will forfeit all of his assets, including real estate, medical facilities, vehicles, multiple aircraft, jewelry, luxury handbags, U.S. currency, cryptocurrency, and gold bars. He also must surrender his medical license and DEA registration.

The case was investigated by special agents of the Arizona Attorney General's Office Special Investigations Section.

"Dr. Fazil abused his position as a physician to steal more than $36 million from a taxpayer-funded program that exists to provide health care to Arizona's most vulnerable residents," Attorney General Kris Mayes said. "He billed for thousands of X-rays and other medical treatments that could not possibly have been performed and treated AHCCCS as his personal bank account. My office will continue to aggressively prosecute fraud in government programs to protect tax dollars."

The Attorney General's Office thanked its law enforcement partners from the DEA, FAA, Yuma Police Department, Yuma County Sheriff's Office, AHCCCS OIG, and HHS OIG for their assistance on the investigation.