Written by Sharma, former CEO of Sovereign Health Group, was arrested on May 29, 2025, culminating an eight-year federal probe. He faces an indictment for allegedly orchestrating a scheme to defraud insurers of over $149 million and paying $21 million in illegal kickbacks.
The multi-year operation (2014-2020) allegedly involved submitting fraudulent claims, including over $29 million for unauthorized urinalysis tests from Sovereign’s in-house lab. Sharma, along with cash manager Paul Jin Sen Khor, is accused of using a “sham foundation” to obtain patient data for fraudulent insurance applications and disguising kickbacks to patient brokers as “marketing hours.” If convicted, Sharma faces decades in prison.
This indictment follows years of trouble for Sharma. His UK medical license was revoked in 2008 for dishonesty. Despite this, he became Sovereign’s CEO in California. In 2022, a jury ordered Sharma and Sovereign to pay Health Net $45 million in a civil RICO case, finding they acted with “malice, oppression, or fraud.” Sovereign also settled an $11 million wrongful death lawsuit. The federal investigation involved multiple agencies, highlighting severe allegations of exploitation in addiction treatment.
