An elaborate scheme to loot US government funds under the guise of elderly care services has been uncovered in Brooklyn, New York. A US court has sentenced Zakia Khan, a woman of Bangladeshi descent, to 76 months — six and a half years — in prison for embezzling large sums and taking bribes through the Medicare programme designed to assist senior citizens. Judge Natasha C. Merle handed down the sentence in a Brooklyn courtroom.
Court records reveal an extraordinary story of greed and deception. Zakia ran two elderly care centres, “Happy Family” and “Family Social,” in the Coney Island area of Brooklyn. Alongside these, she also set up two more entities — “Responsible Care Staffing,” used as cover for providing home-based services, and “Tanvi Services,” used to conceal illicit money.
The scheme ran continuously for seven years, from 2017 to 2024. Under programme rules, elderly patients were supposed to receive services from these centres, but Zakia and her network of brokers lured them with cash. Without receiving any actual services, seniors simply signed fake attendance logs and received cash bribes in hand in return. Zakia Khan, meanwhile, submitted fraudulent documents claiming services had been provided to the government and Medicare, and collected millions of dollars.
Hidden camera footage showed Zakia Khan exchanging bribe money in her own office. It emerged that over these years, her two entities submitted roughly $64 million in fraudulent bills, of which the government had already paid out $56 million. With this vast sum obtained through fraud, Zakia built a luxury home and accumulated large amounts of cash and pure gold jewellery.
After the investigation exposed the scheme, Zakia pleaded guilty last year. Alongside the prison sentence, she has been ordered to repay the $56 million to the government. At least $5 million in assets — including two of her houses, cash and gold — have also been seized.
US Attorney Joseph Nocella and police officials said the fraud ring was uncovered as part of President Donald Trump’s special anti-corruption initiative. Anyone who exploits the elderly and vulnerable to steal government funds will be brought to justice this way, they said.