A 79-year-old surgeon from Oakland County was sentenced for submitting more than $7 million in fake Medicare claims for psychotherapy services, officials said.
Mustafa Hares, of West Bloomfield, was sentenced on Thursday, April 16, 2026, to one year in federal prison, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.
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He was also ordered to pay $4.8 million in restitution and must serve three years of supervised release after his prison time.
From 2019 to 2023, Hares and others were involved in a scheme that involved submitting Medicare claims for services that never happened, according to court records.
Hares, along with Mohammad Kazkaz, signed what appeared to be patient progress notes, but they were actually written by employees in Mexico rather than actual medical providers.
Kazkaz was already sentenced in connection with this scheme and received 7.5 years in prison.
“This physician abused his medical license and position of trust as a doctor to facilitate a massive health care fraud scheme at the expense of the American taxpayer,” said U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. “We must eradicate fraud.”