Michigan Physician Rajendra Bothra Acquitted in Prescription Drug Fraud Case After More Than 3 Years in Prison

An Indian American doctor from Michigan, accused of being involved in a prescription drug scheme along with five others, has been acquitted of all charges after a six-week trial in U.S. District Court in Detroit. Dr. Rajendra Bothra, 80, of Bloomfield, and five doctors who worked with him were charged with running a $500 million opioid scheme out of his three clinics in Macomb County clinics. The doctors were accused of illegally prescribing more than 13 million pills and making false claims to collect millions of dollars from Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, as reported by the Macomb Daily.

Three of the co-accused — Ganiu Edu, 53, of Southfield, Davi Lewis, 44, of Detroit and Christopher Russo, 53, of Birmingham — were also acquitted on June 29. Dr. Eric Backos, 68, of Bloomfield Hills and Dr. Ronald Kufner, 68, of Ada, pleaded guilty early on and is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 25.

Bothra owned and operated The Pain Center USA in Warren and Eastpointe and Interventional Pain Center in Warren, and employed the other doctors.

He was jailed for 43 months, during which he appealed nine times to be released on bond. He lost every motion as prosecutors convinced the courts that he had hidden money and could flee to India. He almost got out on a record $7 million bond in 2019, but the prosecution appealed to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which kept him locked up, concluding he had “the motive, means, and place to flee,” The Detroit Free Press reported.

Bothra’s attorney, Arthur Weiss told The Detroit Free Press that he and his client are “ecstatic” over the verdict but upset that he has been in federal detention for 43 months while awaiting trial. “We’re glad the jury looked at the evidence and made the appropriate decision in a relatively short amount of time,” Weiss said. “Where does he go to reclaim those 43 months?”

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Bothra has practiced in Warren for 30 years, during which he made a name for himself as a physician, philanthropist and political insider. According to India Today magazine, he was appointed co-chairman of the Asian-American Coalition for the U.S. presidential election in 1988.

One of the most high-profile Indian American Republican Party activists and fundraisers in the 1980s and early 1990s, Bothra has hosted major fundraisers for then President George H.W. Bush and other senior GOP lawmakers. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999, the fourth highest civilian award in India. He has worked with Mother Theresa, adopted a child from her orphanage and helped her build a hospital.