New Windsor couple pleads guilty in $3.4 million Medicaid fraud scheme

The $3,434,730 prosecutors say vanished through Medicaid transportation claims was supposed to help patients get to medical appointments, not bankroll a pair of New Windsor businesses. Instead, Orange County officials say the money was siphoned off through fraudulent billing that turned a basic health-care service into a long-running theft from taxpayers and people who depend on legitimate rides.

Rohail Raja and Sharma Alam, both 45 and of New Windsor, pleaded guilty Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Orange County Court. Prosecutors said the couple admitted to stealing the money through their companies, Unique Class Limo Inc. and SNR Limo Inc. Raja pleaded guilty to grand larceny in the first degree, while Alam pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the fourth degree. The companies also entered pleas, with Unique Class Limo Inc. pleading guilty to grand larceny in the first degree and SNR Limo Inc. pleading guilty to grand larceny in the second degree.

Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler called it the largest Medicaid fraud scheme ever prosecuted by his office. State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli also framed the case as a major enforcement action against Medicaid abuse, underscoring how a routine transportation benefit can be manipulated on paper while real patients still need reliable service to reach care.

Investigators said the case began with data analysis that compared Medicaid transportation claims with medical-provider appointment records. The Office of the Medicaid Inspector General said that review uncovered mismatches in claimed rides, and officials said the defendants were arrested on Oct. 30, 2025. The investigation involved the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, the New York State Comptroller’s Office, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the Orange County White Collar Crimes Taskforce, the Hudson Valley Crime Analysis Center and OMIG.

OMIG initially tied the alleged fraudulent billing to roughly February 2020 through August 2024, while later court and county materials placed the improper payments from about April 15, 2020, through Sept. 30, 2024. Prosecutors said the businesses billed for transportation that either never happened or was not performed as claimed.

Both defendants are expected to be ordered to pay restitution of $3,434,730. Prosecutors said if at least $1 million is paid before sentencing, they will recommend that Raja receive a prison term of four to 12 years. The case now stands as a reminder that fraud against Medicaid is not abstract bookkeeping: when transportation dollars are diverted in Orange County, patients can lose access to the rides that connect them to care.