FBI manhunt is on for weight loss doctor Gautam Gupta
BY LEEANN MATON Staff Reporter/lmaton@suntimes.com June 17, 2011 5:30PM
Gautam Gupta
Updated: June 19, 2011 9:30PM
He blanketed the Chicago airwaves with ads for his weight loss clinics.
Now Dr. Gautam Gupta is the subject of a nationwide manhunt after being charged with defrauding state and private insurance companies out of $25 million, according to the FBI.
Gupta, 57, who owns and operates several area Nutrition Clinic locations, was charged with felony counts of mail fraud, health care fraud and conspiracy in a criminal complaint announced on Friday.
Gupta or his staff allegedly submitted claims to both the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Insurance Company and Illinois Medicaid for unnecessary procedures or procedures that were never performed, according to the feds.
His company — which has locations in Arlington Heights, Chicago, Naperville, Rockford and South Beloit — was paid nearly $25 million for the claims between June 2001 and January 2010, the FBI said.
In January, 2010, federal agents, accompanied by State Police investigators and representatives from the Illinois Healthcare and Human Services Department, executed search warrants on Gupta’s clinics. The FBI at the time would only say it was part of an ongoing investigation.
The FBI has been unable to find Gupta, whose last known address was 1660 N. Mulford Rd. in Rockford.
Gupta is of Indian descent, stands 5-foot-5, weighs 160 pounds and has graying black hair that is sometimes worn in a ponytail.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call the Chicago FBI at (312) 421-6700.
