Texas man faces up to 20 years for selling $1M of false MRI equipment
A Richardson, Texas, man was convicted by a federal jury Tuesday, May 15, for his involvement in a scheme to impersonate multi-billion-dollar health tech company Cerner Corporation in a series of business deals that included a ploy to sell fraudulent MRI equipment.
Suresh Mitta, 50, was found guilty of a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud from a 2016 federal indictment, according to an announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice. Mitta was the chief technology officer for a series of entities owned by Albert Davis, a co-conspirator who was sentenced to 12 years in prison and handed a fine of more $19 million in April.
The pair, alongside four other contributors who have since pleaded guilty, were accused of perjuring testimony, manipulating a multimillion dollar civil verdict, creating fake personas and fake email accounts, impersonating companies and manipulating business documents, the release stated. The group created a fake Cerner Corporation business identity—Cerner LLC, which they ensured had a fake bank account, internet domain and office space in Kansas City—and both created fictitious employees and impersonated real ones.
Mitta himself was central to a deal with Dallas Medical Center in which DMC agreed to pay more than $1 million for what they believed to be a newly developed MRI system. He worked to create false references for his company, as well as write fake emails urging DMC administrators to buy the machine.
The scheme was deep-seated, encompassing dozens of fake personas and a line of manipulated Cerner documents and MRI images, but the Department of Justice said it was just a “sliver” of Mitta and Davis’ fraud.
Mitta faces up to 20 years in federal prison without parole. Sentencing is expected to be scheduled after the U.S. Probation Office completes a presentence investigation.
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.