Farid Fata

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Convicted Lebanese cancer doctor Farid Fata seeks new trial

Convicted Lebanese cancer doctor Farid Fata claims he was pressured into pleading guilty to misdiagnosing people with cancer, new court documents show.

Fata was sentenced to 45 years in prison in 2014 for prescribing chemotherapy to patients who were perfectly healthy or whose conditions did not require the treatment.

The disgraced doctor is now asking a federal judge to throw out his 2014 conviction and grant him a new trial.

Fata claims his attorney convinced him to plead guilty for a possible lesser sentence. He alleges his attorney said he could get 20 years as opposed to life in prison if he entered the guilty plea.

“(My attorney) enforced the idea of pleading guilty by leading me to believe that I would receive leniency by entering guilty pleas,” Fata wrote. “From day one to the present, I have steadfastly maintained my innocence. And I maintain that I only agreed to plead guilty in this case due to (my attorney’s) false promises and misadvice.”

COURT DOCUMENTS: Fata seeks new trial

The new documents come four years after Fata stood before the court and sobbed in response to the sentencing.

“I stand before you ashamed of my actions. It all went wrong,” Fata said in court.” I cannot bring back the past.”

RELATED: Lebanese-American doctor Fata sentenced to 45 years in prison

Former patients referred to him as a ‘cowardly bastard’ as he sat expressionless for days watching victims take the stand during sentencing.

RELATED: Agent: Farid Fata planned to buy $3M castle in Adma, Lebanon

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has not yet filed a response to Fata’s request.

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 News

Lebanese-American cancer doc Farid Fata sentenced to 45 years in prison

(DETROIT, MI) — Lebanese-American cancer doctor Farid Fata will spend 45 years in prison, Judge Paul Borman said on Friday.

Fata was crying in court Friday morning, saying, “I stand before you ashamed of my actions. It all went wrong. I cannot bring back the past.”

“I pray for redemption. I ask the court for mercy,” Fata said.

Evette Aubrey, 84, said she knew Fata from Our Lady of Redemption Church in Warren, Mich., where his children were altar boys. She said she hoped the judge would “take care of him.”

“God bless him. He’s a good man,” Aubrey said.

The judge also ordered Fata to get drug and alcohol treatment for alcohol and prescription drug abuse.

Samar Fata, the wife of Farid Fata and the CFO of his medical operation, has since fled the country to Lebanon with the couple’s three children.

During his week of sentencing, Fata was described as a “cowardly bastard” by former patients, as he sat expressionless watching alleged victims take the stand to describe their medical nightmares.

Fata, 50, has admitted to billing insurers for millions of dollars while misdiagnosing and over-treating cancer patients with chemotherapy and other methods when they didn’t need it.

“Farid Fata: I hate you. You are repulsive. You disgust me. You are a monster. You are evil,” said Laura Stedtfeld, who took the stand and accused him of murdering her father, Piero Zanotti, who died in 2014.

“Clearly you are a coward because you can’t even look at me right now,” she said. “You murdered my dad. You poisoned, tortured and murdered my dad.”

Fata pleaded guilty last September to 13 counts of health care fraud, two money laundering counts, and one count of conspiracy to pay or receive kickbacks.

According to the government, Fata had a patient load of 1,200 people and received $62 million from Medicare. He billed for more than $150 million.

“(The fraud) hasn’t happened on a scale like this before anywhere,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Resnick Cohen, who called Fata’s actions “heinous and sadistically cruel.”

Fata has lived in Michigan for 10 years and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2009. He graduated from the Lebanese University in 1992 and completed his Internal Medicine Residency in Brooklyn, NY in 1996.

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 News

Lebanese-American cancer doctor Farid Fata faces victims as sentencing begins

(DETROIT, MI) — Lebanese-American cancer doctor Farid Fata was described as a “cowardly bastard” during his second day of sentencing on Tuesday, as he sat expressionless watching his former patients take the stand to describe their medical nightmares.

Fata has admitted to billing insurers for millions of dollars while misdiagnosing and over-treating cancer patients with chemotherapy and other methods when they didn’t need it.

“Farid Fata: I hate you. You are repulsive. You disgust me. You are a monster. You are evil,” said Laura Stedtfeld, who took the stand and accused him of murdering her father, Piero Zanotti, who died in 2014.

“Clearly you are a coward because you can’t even look at me right now,” she said. “You murdered my dad. You poisoned, tortured and murdered my dad.”

Fata pleaded guilty last September to 13 counts of health care fraud, two money laundering counts, and one count of conspiracy to pay or receive kickbacks. His attorneys have asked Judge Paul Borman to sentence him to no more than 25 years in prison.

But prosecutors are seeking a 175-year prison sentence, likening Fata to Ponzi scammer Bernie Madoff and accusing him of bullying patients into dangerous treatments to pay for an opulent lifestyle.

The government has also asked Borman to order the doctor to pay back $17.6 million paid by Medicare and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan for fraudulent treatments.

Fata has not testified, but his lawyers have filed a sentencing memo that remains under seal.

According to the government, Fata had a patient load of 1,200 people and received $62 million from Medicare. He billed for more than $150 million.

Fata has lived in Michigan for 10 years and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2009.

A decision could come by Friday.

WATCH: Dr. Farid Fata falsely diagnosed Patricia Hester with cancer, giving her medication she never even needed.

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 City Beat, Detroit, News

Feds seek life in prison for Lebanese-American cancer doctor

(DETROIT, MI) — Federal prosecutors are calling Michigan Lebanese cancer doctor Farid Fata one of the most fraudulent physicians in American history for allegedly misdiagnosing patients with cancer to bill their insurance companies.

The U.S. government says 553 patients were put through unnecessary treatments by Fata, who has pleaded guilty to fraud. This is the first time prosecutors assigned a specific number to the case.

In a sentencing memorandum from May 28, the U.S. Attorney’s office says Fata “is the most egregious fraudster in the history of the country, measured not only by the millions of dollars he stole but by the harm he inflicted on his victims, over 550 identified so far.”

Prosecutors are asking for life in prison — up to a maximum 175 years. Fata’s six cancer centers were closed in August of 2013.

“Rather than healing or easing the suffering of the cancer patients and other who sought his help, Fata administered thousands of unnecessary treatments — a variety of chemical infusions and injections, all with potentially harmful and even deadly side effects —to the patients who entrusted him with their care. He did it entirely for his own benefit,” prosecutors wrote.

Sources say his wife and children left the country and are currently living in Lebanon. His wife was the CFO of Fata’s medical company, but her name is not mentioned in the case.

Fata was reportedly looking at luxury investment opportunities along the Jounieh coastal area in Lebanon in 2010, according to released email exchanges between Fata and his financial advisor.

“I need a favor from you,” Fata wrote in one exchange. “My dad has a great deal on a castle all furnished in Adma/Lebanon!”

The castle was $3,000,000, according to email records. It is unclear whether he ever purchased the property, but investigators believe the alleged emails could trace to more information about his “numerous trusts.”

Prosecutors said Fata, who pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud, told “thousands upon thousands of lies” to “cajole, frighten, and deceive his patients.”

His case was also compared to that of notorious Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, but prosecutors said Fata’s crimes were worse, due to the “scope, duration, and enormity of the fraud.”

Fata’s sentencing hearing will take place before U.S. Judge Paul Borman on July 6. The hearing is expected to last more than a week.

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 City Beat, Detroit, News

Agent: Farid Fata planned to buy $3M castle in Adma, Lebanon

(DETROIT, MI) — A 15-page FBI search and seizure warrant claims Lebanese-American Dr. Farid Fata performed medically unnecessary cancer treatments and directed his staff to lie to patients and insurance companies to justify spending.

On September 17, Fata pleaded guilty to 13 counts of health care fraud, two counts of money laundering, and one count of conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks. He faces sentencing in February before U.S. District Judge Paul Borman.

The FBI believes emails to workers, drug companies, and financial advisors will prove how Dr. Fata committed health care fraud. The 19-page affidavit included several emails.

In one email from July 2012, Dr. Fata wrote to a drug manufacturer after they denied a grant to his charity, “Swan for Life.” The FBI says the drug manufacturer was told to donate $10,000 to the charity or Dr. Fata would stop ordering the drug.

He writes, in part:

PHOTO: Fata speaking at a "Swan for Life" fundraising event.
PHOTO: Fata speaking at a “Swan for Life” fundraising event.

“I expect further support form AMAG, Please proceed ASAP. I will be happy to talk to Dr. XXXXXX to reconsider IF ANYBODY DESERVES SUPPORT IT IS US! i.e. SFLCF Please advise, Dr. Fata.”

Reports also say Fata was looking at investment opportunities in Lebanon, particularly in luxury properties in the Jounieh coastal area.

FBI Special Agent Bryan Drake focused on an August 2010 email exchange between Fata and his financial advisor. The subject line read “URGENT!!!!!”

Dr. Fata wrote:

“I need a favor from you. My dad has a great deal on a castle all furnished in Adma/Lebanon! … Can you pls get in contact with my dad and go see the house! It is for $3,000000…Let me know if you can see the house. What is the economic benefit and the housing market in Adma? Is there an economical value in investing in such house?”

Fata asked if he could tap one of his numerous trusts to pay for the castle.

PHOTO: Emails released by the FBI say Fata wanted to use money from the foundation he used to donate to church, to buy a $3M property in Lebanon.
PHOTO: Emails released by the FBI says Fata wanted to use money from the foundation he used to donate to church, to buy a $3M property in Lebanon.

“Can this be funded from the Fata Foundation?” he wrote, according to the search warrant.

The “Fata Family Foundation” was also used to make contributions to a Melkite Catholic church in Warren, according to public 990 forms.

It is unclear if Fata ever invested in the castle.

PHOTO: Dr. Farid Fata's wife has fled to Lebanon with her three children.
PHOTO: Sources say Fata’s wife has left to Lebanon with her three children. (Hour Detroit)

Meanwhile, Samar Fata, the wife of Dr. Farid Fata and the CFO of Michigan Hematology Oncology, P.C., has left the country to Lebanon with the couple’s three children, sources said.

Federal investigators alleged that from August 2007 to July 2013 Fata’s health maintenance organization practice billed Medicare for around $225 million, of which $109 million was for chemotherapy or other cancer treatments.

Of the approximately $225 million, Medicare paid more than $91 million to Fata’s medical practice. Many of the treatments, government attorneys charge, were administered to patients who did not even have cancer.

The FBI wanted to search the doctor’s Hotmail account to trace tens of millions of dollars that flowed through various Fata-related entities, according to the search warrant.

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 City Beat, Detroit

Dr. Farid Fata pleads guilty to 16 counts of healthcare fraud

(DETROIT, MI) — A Detroit-area cancer doctor of Lebanese descent has pleaded guilty to 16 federal charges and admits he gave patients unneeded treatments before billing Medicare and other insurers.

Dr. Farid Fata made the pleas Tuesday in U.S. District Court, where he was scheduled to go on trial on October 14.

Farid-Fata-home-jpg
PHOTO: Fata’s home in Oakland Township, MI during an FBI raid last year.

There was no plea deal with the U.S. Justice Department. Fata pleaded guilty to 13 counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy and two counts of money laundering.

Fata owned Michigan Hematology Oncology, which had many offices in suburban Detroit. He told Judge Paul Borman that he ordered treatments for patients knowing that they were unnecessary and then submitted insurance claims.

“It is my choice,” he said of his decision to plead guilty. “I knew that the infusions were medically unnecessary.”

The government says Fata used a Hotmail account to execute his alleged crimes, including orders to staff and inquiring about a $3-million castle in Lebanon, his native country.

Fata and his family were active members of the Lebanese-American community. He was also the founder of the “Swan for Life Cancer Foundation,” an organization supported by several Lebanese-Americans.

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