Federal authorities have captured fugitive laboratory owner Khalid Ahmed Satary overseas and returned him to the United States to face criminal charges in connection with an alleged $547 million Medicare fraud scheme.
Satary, who had been on the run since November 2022, is the third suspect apprehended from the FBI’s “Most Wanted Fraudsters” list within a five-week span.
FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed the arrest Tuesday in a statement posted to X.
“The arrest of Khalid Ahmed Satary and return to the U.S. is the third Most Wanted Fraudster capture from this FBI and our partners in just 5 weeks – continuing the historic run of success for this new initiative,” Patel said.
Satary was initially indicted on September 26, 2019, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Prosecutors charged him with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, health care fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks and bribes, and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
Federal law enforcement officials allege that between 2016 and 2019, Satary owned and operated several diagnostic testing laboratories across the country. During that period, the labs billed Medicare for more than $547 million in expensive and medically unnecessary genetic tests.
According to court filings and law enforcement records, Satary conspired with patient recruiters, telemarketing call centers, and telemedicine companies. The operation allegedly utilized deceptive marketing campaigns, illegal kickbacks, and bribes to generate cancer genetic test samples, which reimbursed between $10,000 and $20,000 per sample. Authorities state Satary paid millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks and bribes to doctors and patient recruiters to sustain the operation.
Following his 2019 arrest, Satary was released on bond under the explicit condition that he not work in the health care sector. However, while on pre-trial release, he allegedly partnered with Houston-based laboratories in Texas to submit additional fraudulent genetic testing claims to Medicare. On November 23, 2022, a federal arrest warrant was issued in New Orleans after he violated the terms of his pre-trial release and fled.
Before his capture, the FBI offered a reward of up to $150,000 for information leading to his arrest and conviction. Investigators noted that Satary—who has used aliases including Khalid Satary, Khalid A. Satary, Khalio A. Satary, Rocky Satary, and DJ Rock Satary—had ties to and potential travel routes through Houston, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Delray Beach, Florida; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Jordan; and the Israel/Palestine region.
Addressing the international operation that led to the capture, Patel stated: “Satary has been on the run since 2022, but we got him thanks to great work and coordination from the interagency and our overseas partners.”
Patel added that the transfer represents the 27th high-value target returned from overseas by the FBI under the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.
READ: $1B Medicaid Freeze: Feds Block Funds To California, Minnesota In Massive Fraud Sweep
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