Yuma physician sentenced to 7½ years, ordered to repay $36.5 million to AHCCCS

Yuma physician Irfan Fazil was sentenced October 2 to 7½ years in prison after pleading guilty to four felonies in a Medicaid fraud case. The sentence also requires seven years of probation and $36,542,901.45 in restitution to Arizona’s Medicaid agency, according to the Attorney General’s sentencing announcement.

The case has consequences beyond the prison term: assets subject to forfeiture are expected to repay public funds, and former Bio Family Clinic employees have reported unpaid wages. Prosecutor Ryan Dill says the case will produce full recovery for the state and payment for workers. The documents reviewed for this article contain no accounting of money actually distributed.

Four convictions, not all six original charges

Fazil pleaded guilty September 4 to fraudulent schemes and artifices and theft, both class 2 felonies, and illegal control of an enterprise and illegal procurement of a dangerous drug, both class 3 felonies. KAWC’s October 3 report confirms those convictions and attributes the sentencing terms to the Attorney General.

KYMA’s coverage of the October 2 sentencing says the 7½-year terms for fraud and illegal control of an enterprise run concurrently. They are served at the same time, rather than added into a 15-year prison term. The Attorney General’s final announcement specifies seven years of probation after prison.

The June 8 grand-jury indictments released by the Attorney General show six charges against Fazil, including conspiracy and possession of a dangerous drug. Those two charges are not among the four reported plea convictions. The filings also contain a separate, single-count fraud indictment against Bio Family Clinic. Fazil’s guilty plea does not by itself establish the disposition of that corporate charge.

The sheriff’s booking record documents a June 3 arrest. It is an earlier custody record, not a reliable account of the final convictions or sentence.

How the billing scheme operated

The Attorney General says Fazil used Bio Family Clinic, Inc., Yuma Mobile X-Ray and Yuma Kidney & Dialysis to bill AHCCCS, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, for tens of thousands of tests and treatments from July 1 through December 31, 2025. The businesses collected approximately $36.5 million during those six months.

Investigators examined the 27 patient accounts with the highest billing volumes. One account contained claims for more than 1,700 X-rays in six months, plus hundreds of other services. The state describes the claimed volume as physically impossible. These are billing records, not evidence that a patient actually received that many X-rays.

The underlying fraud and theft indictments allege conduct from July 1, 2025 through May 31, 2026. That broader charging period should not be confused with the six-month payment period highlighted in the sentencing announcement. The dangerous-drug indictment separately alleges fraudulent procurement of clonazepam on dates between February and July 2025.

The Attorney General’s account of the drug conduct says Fazil wrote prescriptions for his wife while she was outside the United States, then collected the medication himself. The signed plea’s factual basis was not available for this review, so that detail is attributed to the state’s announcement.

Restitution ordered, recovery still to document

The announced plea terms require Fazil to pay precisely $36,542,901.45 to AHCCCS. Restitution is the repayment obligation. An order to repay that amount does not establish that AHCCCS has already received it.

The state’s public summary reports the paid-claims total and the review of high-volume accounts, but does not supply a claim-by-claim loss calculation explaining the exact restitution amount. It also does not establish whether a business or another party shares liability for that obligation.

The agreement requires forfeiture of Fazil’s assets, including real estate, medical facilities, aircraft, vehicles, currency, cryptocurrency and other valuables, as well as surrender of his medical license and federal Drug Enforcement Administration registration. The announcement does not provide sale proceeds or an asset valuation.

In an October 5 public LinkedIn post about the sentencing, Dill says AHCCCS will recover its full loss, employees will receive unpaid wages, and the Arizona Department of Revenue will recover unpaid taxes. He says additional liquidation proceeds will go to the state’s RICO fund. These are the prosecutor’s assurances; the post provides no dated payment ledger or distribution schedule.

The local consequences

AHCCCS’s provider suspension list, identified by the agency as updated September 2, lists June 24 suspensions for Fazil, Bio Family Clinic, Yuma Mobile XRay, and Yuma Kidney and Dialysis. The agency’s explanation of provider actions distinguishes payment suspensions based on a credible allegation of fraud from provider termination. That administrative listing is separate from Fazil’s later criminal convictions and the license-surrender requirement.

Former Bio Family Clinic workers told KAWC in August that they were owed pay for their last weeks of work and had encountered difficulty obtaining unemployment benefits. KAWC also reported the Foothills clinic was closed. Its October 3 sentencing report said it was not immediately known whether some or all employees had received their pay. Dill’s assurance of repayment does not establish a payment date.

The reviewed records do not quantify displaced patients or demonstrate particular treatment interruptions. Nor do they establish wrongdoing by clinic employees merely because they worked there.

KYMA’s reporter at the sentencing hearing said the state dismissed the case against Fazil’s wife. YumaInformed did not obtain the dismissal order or independently establish the current disposition of Bio Family Clinic’s separate indictment. Neither should be described as a conviction based on Fazil’s plea.

What remains to be verified

The next accountability questions concern money and implementation: how much AHCCCS has received, which assets have been sold, when wages and taxes will be paid, and what financial obligations remain. The effective date and current licensing entry for the required medical-license surrender also remain independently unverified.

This report reflects information available through October 8, 2026. YumaInformed reviewed the original indictments, the Attorney General’s sentencing summary, AHCCCS records and local reporting. The signed plea agreement, sentencing order, restitution ledger and dismissal order were not obtained. Accordingly, final sentencing terms are attributed to the state’s announcement and hearing coverage rather than presented as independently read court orders.